A New Starting Point
by Phantos God of Horrors
Summary: Izuku's life has taken a turn from what it was a month prior. Then, he was a student attending Yuei, with an internship under the Pro Hero Nighteye, alongside Togata Mirio, the hero Lemillion. Now, he's a student at Yuei, living with Eri in his school dorm thanks to the schools approval, doing his best to raise her and give her a happy life that she wholeheartedly deserves.
1. 1-1

**Welp, here's the new story, along with a new universe of characters to use. Hoorah.**

 **I finished this one this morning. I'm happy it's as many words as it is, holy hell. 17 pages to the last line. Excluding this note. I add these in after all is said and done. But, anyways, welcome to my new story. The main reason I choose to write this is because I found other stories that put Eri and Izuku in a father/daughter relationship and goddammit it is adorable. Every time. I couldn't help myself to put a spin on it, combining it with another topic I wanted to use but couldn't figure out a story to write with it. So I combined them.**

 **I am working on the second chapter to this, and after that will be one more before I put it on hold until I come to a decision on which of the two paths I can take this on, I will take. During then I'll just continue to work on the other stories and getting them an extra two to four more chapters each before the year ends. This chapter probably would have been a day earlier if A) my computer didn't break down again and B) a blackout didn't occur and mess me up. But, since those are now a thing of the past (weekend), I shall move forward and get my work done.**

* * *

It was his alarm that awoke Izuku Midoriya.

He groaned and reached over to it, tapping its button to turn it off. His hand slipped off and hung loosely off the bed with his arm as he tried to force himself awake. He blinked, trying to remove the sleep from his eyes. When they persisted against his will, he tried to move his other arm to rub it away. But as he pulled it to himself, he could feel it be pulled away. So he opted and forced himself to use his lazy hand instead.

Blinking and widening his eyes to help keep himself awake, Izuku rolled his head to face the other side and smiled at the sight. Of the girl hugging his arm and snuggling it to her chest, still sound asleep.

Izuku rolled his body to face her, using the arm she held to pull her against him and rest her on his chest. He leaned his head down and plopped a soft kiss on her head, smiling as she snuggled him more.

Midoriya wondered how he got so lucky to have Eri in his life, and to be to her what she needed: a father.

It had been over a month since the heroes had raided and arrested the Eight Precepts of Death and Chisaki, along with rescuing Eri from their hold. The young girl kept herself latched to Togata Mirio when they left, and when she was forced off him to be medically treated for his wounds, she clung to Midoriya instead. She shied away from the other heroes, even Midoriya's classmates, refusing to talk to anyone.

Even doctors had a hard time treating her, with how much she would panic when they spoke or approached. It to all of Midoriya's might and soothing words to calm her enough for the doctors to drawn one small blood sample before she broke again, finding comfort and a place in Izuku's arms. And there she would stay.

A week later Izuku's mom filled out the paperwork to legally be Eri's mother and welcome her into her home, but Eri refused to be anywhere without Midoriya. While now a member of the Midoriya family, she only trusted Izuku enough to stay with him. He tried to move back home to live with his mother and Eri, but his mother told him it was no need. She didn't want him to have to cut off his friends so soon and distance himself from them more, with how happy she was that he actually had friends. So the mother and son did what they could to work out an agreement with the school that Eri would live with Izuku in his dorm.

And even though it had been a month, Eri had not really opened up to the rest of Class 1-A. Most of the time, if Izuku wasn't in class, she would stay with him in his room. She would wait there when he would go down to bring food and drinks to his, or now their, room. Or if she went down with him, she would grip his shirt and sit in his arms, refusing to look around anywhere other than his chest or shoulder. If they went out, they went alone, still together like glue. The teachers could barely get a response out of her, which was more than the students got, but she only really trusted Principal Nedzu and All-Might, if only slightly more than the rest.

Midoriya had tried to get her to open up to his classmates, to give her more friends as she could have. But sometimes too many to start to crowd around her, or they would be yelling at each other, and Eri would panic and curl up against Izuku, and then he would take her back to their room, alone, and spend an hour at the most doing everything in his power to calm her down and see her smile again.

It was her smiles that let him know everything he did now was worth it.

"Daddy." Midoriya looked down at the girl as she yawned and stretched and looked up at him and smiled. "Good morning daddy."

It had been two weeks since she started calling him that. She had done it one night, before they went to bed. Izuku had been telling her stories of his past, altering them slightly for her sake. She enjoyed their story times, curled up together on the bas as Midoriya gave to her the childhood she more than deserved. When she began yawning, Izuku smiled and told her they would continue the story the night following. Eri responded with three word before she passed out, but they were three words strong enough to get Izuku blushing like mad and almost not sleep that night.

" _Thank you daddy."_

It caught him off guard. Of everything he expected to hear from her, that was not it. But as he sat there, beside Eri, snuggled up in his lap for the night, his surprise turned into happiness, his gaping mouth into a smile, his wide eyes into tears, and his stomach into butterflies.

Those words dug into his heart deeper than anything All-Might has ever told him.

Blinking back into the present, Izuku smiled back. "Good morning Eri," Midoriya spoke softly. "How did you sleep?"

"I slept good." Eri let out a giggle and drew out the last word as Izuku pet her hair. "Can we continue the story now? I don't wanna wait for tonight!" Izuku's smile grew at how bright and happy she looked.

Eri was open to him. While she shied away and hid from almost the whole rest of the world, Eri would always be unrestrained when alone with her new papa, and even sometimes her uncle.

Izuku thought back to the night before, racking his brain to remember where they left off. They had already covered Izuku meeting and training with All-Might, the start of school at Yuei, the USJ attack, the sports festival, Stain, the battle at camp…

Oh, right. Just last night Izuku had given her a diluted retelling of the big fight between All-Might and All for One, ending with the torch moving onto his successor. Now, he just had to figure out how to phrase the events that followed.

"Sorry, Eri, but you'll have to wait for tonight to hear the rest." Izuku patted and ruffled Eri's hair, enticing her to giggle from the actions.

"But daddy!" She couldn't hold back the giggling in her voice. "It's Saturday!"

Izuku looked back over his shoulder at his clock, which did confirm her words. It was a Saturday.

"Then we'll just have to find something to go together. You get to have me the whole day. Just let me get dressed and I'll find something for the two of us to do today." Izuku lowered his hands to her sides and began tickling her, just to get her to laugh and smile more, before pulling himself off the bed to change.

Izuku had changed, and he realized it. He still had troubles with strangers and speaking up, his mumbling under his breath and hand never went away, and hell if he had gotten any better at talking to and being around girls. But Izuku was more open and himself when he was with Eri. He acted in a way that surprised even himself, but he took in all in stride and tried his hardest to do it all right.

And that included being a father to Eri when his had been absent from his life.

As Izuku picked out a fresh change of clothes, and Eri busied herself by playing with a doll he had gotten for her, he checked his phone. He looked at the news, at updates of heroes and their accomplishments, and he noticed a message hidden in the sea of notifications. One for his whole class.

From the principal.

 _-Greeting, students of 1-A!_

 _-It is I! The one who no one knows if I'm a dog, rat, mole, or maybe even a genetically engineered human looking like an animal in disguise, your principal!_

 _Yep, this is from him_ , Midoriya thought with a chuckle.

 _-I do not wish to alarm any of you with my announcement! I bring good news! The Hero Association is sending a representative over from the Heroes Personal Affairs Department! He or she has been given only the information we possess and what else they could find, and are coming tomorrow to meet with you all and give you pro tips to help you live and move forward as heroes!_

Midoriya blinked at that, before his eyes widened and his hands shook. The Hero Association? Sending someone to meet with the students tomorrow? To discuss their futures? Midoriya knew of the department, but he had no idea they sent someone to Yuei. Was this new? Was every class getting a chat from the department? What are they going to tell and ask him when they arrive? Pushing forward, Izuku did his best to steel himself and continue reading the message, his brain still on fire.

 _-It is a Yuei tradition to have someone from their department come over and help our students moving into their second year with us!_

Oh. So it was common.

 _-Pro heroes have lives outside of just being a hero, and the Hero Association brings it upon themselves to help straighten out the lives of our aspiring students and hero students all around the world! Fear not, for these men and women are here to keep the justice society together and help even those whose job it is to help! By 10 am tomorrow, their representative should arrive to give all of you helpful advice in living while being the next generation of heroes! I do hope you cooperate with them!_

Izuku took long, shaking breathes, trying to calm himself as he read on. He chuckled softly as he realized the principal had ended every sentence with an exclamation point, if only to calm himself down. He closed his phone as the message ended with a sign off from their principal and quickly changed into his day clothes.

Looking back at Eri, Midoriya smiled and watched her play with the doll, reenacting the sparring match he had with Kirishima last week, which ended with an apology and a plie driver, in that order.

"Hey, Eri," Midoriya spoke, walking over to her and joining her on the bed. "Do you want to come downstairs with me and get breakfast or wait here for me?"

Eri stopped playing and looked up at Izuku for a moment, before her expression changed and she lowered her gaze. "I'll wait here…"

Izuku knew what was troubling here. It was a conversation they had before, off of what Eri had heard from Izuku when he was talking with his friends. She thought she was being a bother and getting in his way of spending time with them, and almost broke down again if it wasn't for how fast Izuku had stopped her and told her nothing was wrong. He spent a whole day telling her and proving to her that he appreciated her in his life, and even if he was spending less time with his classmates, there was nothing wrong with that when it was all to make her happy and give her a home and family.

Midoriya leaned down and planted a kiss on her head to bring the smiles and giggles back as fast as they had vanished. "That's fine, Eri. I'll make sure to be right back for you then. While I go get us our breakfast, you are going to get dressed, and while we eat we'll check in with a certain someone and see if he wants to join us for an afternoon out."

Eri's head snapped back up, her eyes meeting his, as the water that had begun to form evaporated and was replaced by blinding happiness. "You mean Uncle Mirio?" Izuku chuckled, watching her expression change from secluded to bubbly in seconds.

"Yes, Uncle Mirio. Maybe he has the time in his schedule today to join us for some fun. Does that sound good?"

"Yes yes yes yes!" Izuku laughed more as Eri fell back into the bed and bounced on the mattress, throwing her hands into the air. "Yay!"

"Good, now get dressed. I'll be back with food in a bit." Once more Izuku planted a kiss on Eri's head before heading out the room and down into the kitchen.

* * *

Izuku was surprised to find the common area and kitchen as empty as they were for a weekend morning. His classmates could usually be found chatting it up and trying to watch something on TV, or hustle around one another trying to get their food and have something to eat, but not this time. _Maybe they're just asleep still_ , thought Midoriya. _Or they're freaking out about the message Principal Nedzu sent us._

As he entered the kitchen, Midoriya dived through the pantry and fished out a loaf of bread with the sticker on it that said, in big green letter, ERI. He took out four slices and prepped them in the toaster, and stood by the sink as he waited for them to return as toast.

Labeling the food as Eri's was actually Iida's idea. Some of his classmates would 'borrow' food from one another, but he found no one would dare take anything with Eri's name on it. Not only was it a way to keep her food safe without hiding it in their room, but Iida offered the belief that it would help their class see Eri as another member of their extended family with one another, while they waited for Eri to open up to them.

Despite the struggle, albeit worth it, to get Eri to trust his classmates, Izuku was grateful for how patient they were with the two. Aside from Bakugo constantly saying he doesn't care about the girl, all of them were considerate about Eri and what she needed. The walls weren't exactly soundproof, so when Izuku and Eri were playing in their room, anyone who passed by could hear how the young girl acted when she wasn't shy.

But that also meant they could hear her when she cried. Sometimes she cried when they were outside and arguing, or sometimes it would just be because of a nightmare, and no matter what, if anyone was outside the door, all talk would cease. Some would walk away and continue their chatter somewhere else, and some would come knocking to check on the two, to no avail other than Midoriya responding on the other side that he could handle it. Which he does.

But Midoriya thinks his friends are too good for him, too kind and lax over his negligence of them ever since they returned home. They had told him already that they understood it was for the sake of Eri, what he was doing, but to him it still felt as though he was betraying the relationships he had built with his new friends. He cared for Eri more than anyone, and he was grateful to finally have friends, but now he was choosing one over the other, and the choice had become Eri. He didn't think it was something he should regret, but…

"Good morning, Midoriya." Izuku only _slightly_ screamed and jumped in sync with the toast as Iida spoke up behind him. His engine-legged friend was dressed in his tracksuit, and judging from the sweat, towel, and water bottle, Izuku guessed he had just returned from a morning run.

"H-hey Iida," Midoriya spoke softly in response, moving back to the toaster and prepping breakfast. "I didn't hear you come over here. Y-you surprised me."

"My apologies. I had just finished my run and came over here to hear you mutter to yourself again."

Izuku blushed and nodded absentmindedly as he spread the butter on the toast. "I-I was?"

Tenya Iida nodded. "You were," the taller student confirmed. "I couldn't make out what you were saying though. Is everything alright? You looked troubled."

"Huh?" Izuku turned to face his friend, with his mouth dropping slightly. "I do? I-I's not really that troubled, though…"

"But something is troubling you?" Iida make quick work to hear what Izuku had failed to deny, causing the green haired teen to scoff at himself mentally.

"A bit," he begrudgingly admitted. Before he could give Iida more time to respond, Izuku spoke again. "Have you seen the message the principal sent us this morning?"

Iida squinted at Izuku as the shorter of the two rushed through his question. Izuku _really_ didn't want to share his thoughts right now, or ever, and he thanked whichever god above took pity upon him and had Iida drop their first conversation and move on with the new question.

"Yes, I read it this morning before I went out. I had no idea this was something U.A. or the Hero Association did with aspiring heroes, but I am interested in hearing what they have to say."

"How do you think the conversation with them is going to go down? It's a Sunday, and they'll be coming to our dorm building specifically, which means we're either going to have a group meeting in the common lounge or they'll have us meet one-on-one privately, maybe even inside our rooms. I'm just worried about what they have to tell me…"

Izuku only jumped a few feet as Iida clapped his hand on his friend's shoulder. "You should have nothing to worry about, Midoriya." Izuku looked up to his friend to see the soft smile sent his way. "I doubt there is anything bad or troublesome they would have to tell someone like you. I assume they'll most likely give you tips and contacts that will help you grow up and be able to take care of Eri as you both grow, if she is to continue staying in your care."

Izuku nodded again, thinking over his friend's words, before lingering on Eri's name. Izuku let out a sound that he wasn't even sure of what it was, as he turned back to the counter and grabbed the plate of toast. "Sorry, Iida, but I have to hurry upstairs and give Eri her breakfast." Before Iida could assure him it was alright, Izuku had rushed past and up the stairs back to his room and his "daughter." Izuku could make out a faint chuckle and a joke about their speed as he hurried away from his friend.

* * *

Izuku chuckled as Eri sat upon his shoulders, holding onto his head gently, aweing and making cute noises (Izuku couldn't call them anything else, considering it _was_ Eri who's making them) as they passed by shop after shop. Izuku decided to take her down a new street, treat her to some new sights and stores they haven't visited yet, which would help him know what Eri liked and what he could buy to surprise her with as presents down the line. "What do you think, Eri?" Izuku brought up a hand to hers, which were wrapped around his head and gently pressing against his forehead.

"Their signs are so bright and pretty," Izuku could hear her mutter atop his head, earning her another chuckle from him. She wasn't wrong; a lot of the stores down this road did have neon signs and creative posters to market their products, appliances, toys and such. Though he couldn't look up, he would bet there were stars in Eri's eyes to match her voice's awe and appreciation.

"Are there any you want to go into?" Izuku could look beside him, to the taller gentleman walking beside them, a hand behind Eri's back to help keep her steady as her body twisted and turned atop Izuku's. Midoriya gave a smile Togata Mirio's way, and was rewarded with one from said man. The blond was overjoyed to be invited on another stroll with the two younger figures and provide them the company and friendship that he could.

"Umm…uhhh…" Eri twisted left and right, darting her head, trying to decide on a store to go to first. "That one!" Izuku felt his body tilt as Eri threw her weight with her arm to a store on their right, and thanked Mirio for catching him before he could fall or catch himself.

Izuku followed the path of the finger barely visible in the top of his sights, pointing at the book store at the corner. "You wanna find something to add to your little collection?"

"Yes, daddy." Both the boys smiled as she did and led the way with her cheering and playing with Izuku's hair. Lucky for them the door was big enough that Eri could stay on Izuku's shoulders as they entered and walked down the aisles until they found what the young girl wanted. She acted as she did outside, looking at the covers until she found one she was interested in and would reach out for.

This was something Izuku noticed about Eri's behavior. They were in public, but even then that didn't stop Eri from being open and loud and giddy and cute. It was focus. Focus that seemed to be a trigger. Focus on her that made her uncomfortable around Izuku's class when they tried to mingle, and the lack of focus that made it easier for Eri to be out in the town alone with Izuku. It was focus of large crowds that scared her, and focus of the individual she trusted that let her feel safe and secure.

There was an exception to this rule, and outlier in the equation, and that outlier was Mirio. Only recently had he fully recovered and allowed to leave the hospital, and even more recent had he been visiting Izuku and Eri. When Izuku had to attend classes, he had a hard time finding a place for Eri to stay, so she wasn't left alone in his dorm for hours. So, while Mirio was trying to transition into a new life, with new goals and expectations, he had offered to give Eri company, and it was greatly appreciated by both Izuku and Eri that he did so.

Now that his powers were gone, Mirio could no longer pursue the life of a superhero, so he had to find something new to do with his life. The school board of Yuei was working and helping him find that something. Teaching and police work seem to be the main two attractions to the blonde teen, but he was still only in the middle of searching for a place to study them.

Izuku hefted Eri off his shoulders and lowered her onto her feet as they found her something to read, which she pulled off the shelf and began diving her nose into the second she could. Izuku crouched down beside her, and Mirio sat beside him, as the three enjoyed their time together, reading and watching the young one read.

"Mirio," Izuku began, turning his head away from Eri as she flipped through page after page, "did you get a visit from the Heroes Personal Affairs Department from the Hero Association when you were in your first year?"

"Yep!" Mirio smiled and gave Eri a small pat on the head to make her giggle. "Despite their name, they do help with some heroics work too. They helped me come up with the idea of my costume, using my hair fibers to let it move with me as I passed through surfaces, though their offer was more centric on my everyday clothes too, when I would be unable to put on the uniform or during times when I wasn't purposefully roaming as a hero. Suit application came after that."

"Really?" Izuku gave Mirio his wide eyes following that claim.

"I assure you. They were a very helpful department to help me move forward. Why do you ask? Are you expecting to meet them soon?"

"Yeah. Tomorrow, actually." Izuku scratched the back of his neck, stretching slightly to ease the tension he was feeling in it. "It's a bit short of a notice, but we were told someone would be here tomorrow."

"Well you don't have to worry. There isn't anything you need to do or know in advance. They'll do most of the talking anyways –" Mirio stopped talking as Eri walked over to him and placed the comic in his lap before moving onto another one. "If anything, they'll most likely give you ideas of work, other heroes to align with in the field, places for new internships in the future, and more likely than not, help with raising Eri."

Izuku smiled softly, turning his gaze back to the little girl as she read through another comic. "I think that last one is something I need more than anything. It's going to be tough to try and get her into a school for her age grade. She still doesn't fully trust the rest of my class, the teachers, or even my mom. I can't just risk pushing her into a new crowd of people she doesn't know before she gets comfortable with the one already around her."

"What about homeschooling?" Izuku chuckled a bit at that question, before blushing at the look Mirio was giving him.

"I tried that, or really getting what I needed to do that, but I've come up short getting it done for her. I don't have the time to balance Yuei work, hero work, and teaching her all in one day. Time table doesn't fit." The two boys sat in silence, mulling their words over as Eri moved to the third book.

"Maybe I could teach her, then." Izuku gave wide eyes to Mirio again, wincing slightly at the whiplash he gave his neck doing so. "I'm still school hunting anyways, trying to figure out what I want to do now. And since I already watch over her for you while you're in class, I could spend that time teaching her what she would have to know already for students her age until I find a new school to go to."

Izuku blinked as Mirio smiled back. The cogs in Midoriya's head slowly began to turn as he thought over Mirio's words, before smiling like a madman and tackling Mirio in a hug, almost knocking him into the shelf beside them.

"That would be great!" Midoriya kept his voice as low as he could hold it, the excitement in his words trying to raise the volume. "If you can do that, I would love for you to, Mirio."

"Thanks buddy!" Mirio gave a soft hug back, patting Izuku in the process. "Guess I gotta go out and get myself the stuff I need to teach her then."

Izuku opened his mouth to speak but cut himself off as a third body pressed against them. Izuku turned his head to see Eri smiled and laughing, trying to join the two students into a group hug, which Izuku was more than happy to pull her into the middle of. She giggled more and snuggled between the two boys. "What are we doing?"

Izuku and Mirio laughed, leaning down to press their foreheads gently against her head and together. She only smiled and laughed and let them play with her hair. "Planning with Mirio," Izuku whispered to her, doing his best to lower his voice after laughing louder than he thought he would. "He and I came up with an idea of what you two will be doing when I'm in class. He's agreed to teach you a few things and help you know more. A bit similar to what I'm taught in my classes, but more for someone of your age."

"I'll need a week to get everything I need. Then, I can get to teaching you a few things you'll need to know." Mirio gave Eri a small pat on the head. "I'll make sure we have fun doing so."

The three of them continued to talk, about what Mirio should be teaching her before moving on to the books Eri was getting that day, and bought them on their way out. Izuku pointed out a book to Mirio, one he remembered seeing with one of his teachers, and though it was meant as a joke, the once-hero bought it anyways.

 _Teaching for Dummies_ wouldn't be a bad addition to his shelf.

* * *

Eri yawned and grasped at the air towards Izuku. He smiled and picked her up, carrying her back to the room. She could have walked back to the room on her own two feet, holding Izuku's hand all the way. She'd done it before, and Izuku thought it was a good thing for her to do every now and again to feel more open and in control when moving around the dorm building like his classmates, but Izuku wouldn't turn down the offer to hold her close and help her feel safe. Whenever, wherever.

He locked the door to their room as they entered, and laid her down gently on the bed, tucking her in and getting her situated for the night. As he climbed in beside her, Eri scooted closer and snuggled against his side. "Can we continue the story, daddy?" she questioned softly, allowing another yawn to escape her lips. Izuku smiled and used his thumb to brush her hair out of her face.

"Of course Eri," he told her softly, spending a few seconds to recall where they left off. Wrapping an arm around the young girl and holding her gently beside him, he began the next chapter of the story.

"After the Hero had defeated his arch nemesis, he had confessed to the world his secrets, and then went from home to home of the arising heroes, talking with their families to reassure them that they would all be kept safe. One by one, he visited their home, their families, and them, the soon-to-be's, until finally, he visited the home of his protégée. He lived with only his mother. When the Hero and she talked, she expressed her issues and distrust immediately.

"She did not believe the Hero and those around him were fit to keep her son safe. Time and time again, there had been dangers, and her son had been thrusted into the middle of it all. The mother saw the heroes as people she could not trust to protect her son, and believed it best to move him away from the heroes, to a place where he would be safe, and still train how he had to, to become the next Hero."

Izuku stared at the ceiling, visualizing that day in his head. It hit him like a truck, or one of All-Might's punches, the words and feelings his mother expressed to both him and his idol. Her concern was something he had pushed far back in his head, never once taking it into consideration how she felt after each and every time he had hurt himself doing what he did. He never once thought of how hard it was on her, to see her son come home in bandages and cuts and bruises, to hear that his hands were broken, or his legs were, and there was a chance that one day they wouldn't be usable anymore, and that would be it.

"The son responded his mind, what he felt, what he wanted. And it did something to the Hero. Something in him clicked, and he again spoke to the family of two." Izuku rubbed Eri's back, and he could feel her nuzzle against him. "He apologized for the troubles that he and the other heroes had brought upon them, and their inability to prevent the ones that followed after the other. He expressed his thoughts and hopes for the young boy in front of him, and what he could see in the boy, what he could and will become, in the Hero's eyes.

"And he swore an oath to the family of two, begging for the mother for the permission to continue teaching him, and raising him to be the next Hero." A small sound came from Eri, and Izuku looked down to the girl nuzzling against him, asleep and breathing softly against his shirt. As he gazed upon her, he could hear All-Might's words playing out in his head, and embedding themselves in his heart.

 _Even if it costs my life, I will protect and nurture_ her.

Izuku tilted his head down and gave Eri's head a small kiss and closed his eyes with her, letting sleep overtake him and draw him into the realm of dreams.


	2. 1-2

**I don't know what magic I'm working. I don't know if I want to consider it magic, because that makes it sound nice.**

 **This chapter was supposed to be shorter. In comparison to the first one, it was originally going to be shorter. Now it's almost 600 words longer. That's not a big amount, but the dialogue gave enough space that the file is 4 pages longer than chapter 1 and I was not planning on writing as much as I did but fuck it. Here it is now. I know this is a late time to be posting a chapter, but that means you get to wake up to a blessing in disguise. Happy Middle October.**

 **Now, there should only be one more chapter after this before I give this story time. And though I was able to get a second chapter out a week after the first, the third won't be out for a while longer. It's midterms week, which means I got important shit to do, which means the production of chapter 3 is on standby for the next few days. Hopefully by the weekend I'll have started the first few pages of text, and by the middle of next week it can be posted, if not later in the weekdays. At the end of that chapter will be another note, accompanying the one that will start the chapter. I'm happy so many people are loving just the single chapter of this story so far. I wasn't expecting as many favs and follows for it that this has received, but I'm overjoyed and humbled by it nonetheless. Thank you, all of you, who enjoy this story so far.**

 **And as a first for me, as far as my limited memory can remember, let's actually respond to comments.**

 **To Wonderland Tea Party and : yeah, I'm going to enjoy writing super hero Tin Tin-I mean Mirio. His introduction to the story is hilarious and I will do this man the justice he deserves.**

 **To NeoNazo356: I don't believe they would have made an antidote to the bullets. I only say this because they were only ever able to successfully make five of them, and it sounds to me like they spent many a resources perfecting the quirk erasing bullets than they could an antidote to their weapon. All the other bullets weren't permanent, but these are supposed to be, so to be able to make an antidote for something they could barely even make successfully seems a bit of a stretch to me. Who knows what the manga will tell us though?**

 **To Guest, Boukun, and Pyrokinetic52: Thank you for the enthusiasm. I'm glad to know this is something you've already found joy in reading. I'll make sure each chapter can bring that same emotion back every time.**

 **Thank you everyone who is following this story, has favorite this story, and have done the two actions to this account in general. It means a lot to me to know people enjoy my writing. I'll make sure to get through my midterms soon so the third chapter can be here sooner. Have a good day/night/whateverthefucktimeframeyoureadthisduring.**

* * *

Today, it was Eri who woke him up.

Izuku groaned as the little girl bounced on his chest, doing the job of his alarm.

"Daddy! Daddy! Wake up! Wake up!"

"I'm up. I'm up." Izuku did his best to grab Eri and hold her against him as he sat up in bed with a grunt. "What's up?" he asked her softly, petting her hair.

"A direction." Izuku couldn't hold back a laugh from how serious she was with her answer.

"I see you're getting ready for Mirio's teaching already." He gave her hair a ruffling, eliciting giggles from the young girl. "But that isn't what I meant. What is it you need, Eri?"

"It's an In Day!" Eri shook and nuzzled against Izuku's chest. She was right. The two had agreed only a week ago to make their Sundays their "In Days," where they got to spend time in the room together, watch shows, draw, read, and let it be a day only to themselves. Eri doesn't have to go out and interact with anyone, just so she could feel nothing but comfortable in Izuku's presence.

Midoriya smiled and kissed the top of her head softly. "Yes it is, Eri. An us day. Shall I go get you some breakfast first?" Izuku held back his yawn as Eri nodded vigorously.

"Yes please! Thank you daddy!" Eri gave him a wide grin and a big hug to boot, and Izuku responded with a soft one of each of his own.

"Alright then. You wait here, and I'll be right back with some food." Izuku lifted her off gently, setting her down on his desk chair as he grabbed a change of clothes. He changed into them quickly, and giving Eri a peck on the forehead he headed down to make breakfast again for the two of them.

And today, there were actually people in the lounge. Not everyone, but more than there was the day before, even if it was only five.

"The word is…pleasant," Kirishima read off the green card. Sero hummed and shuffled through his red cards.

"Are we supposed to be ironic or serious?" he asked Kirishima, pushing his cards together until only two stood alone.

"Uhhh…either or. If you can make me laugh enough with it, good. If not, I'll choose the serious one."

"So in other words, play whatever?" Mina paraphrased, setting a card down in front of the red hero.

"As long as it isn't crap, yeah."

"Thank you, Bakugo, for the added commentary that we didn't need but was informal none the less."

"Fuck off."

Izuku smiled as walked past his classmates without greeting them. Bakugo was the only one to notice him make his way to the kitchen and only acknowledged him with a grunt before slouching down more and returning his focus to the game.

Midoriya worked quietly, stealing some of his own food from the fridge and prepping it before putting it in the microwave. No matter how quiet he tried to be, the ding sounds of the microwave could not be muffled.

"Huh? Oh, mornin' Midoriya." The green haired hero turned back to the common area, giving a slight greeting and getting other friendly greeting in response.

"Good morning Kirishima, Sero, Mine, Jirou, Kacchan."

"Fuck you."

"Who's winning?" Izuku chose to let Bakugo's greeting slide and decided to actually make conversation until he had to go.

"I am," Mina told him cheerily. "Already got three."

"And I'm right behind you with two." Kirishima picked the four cards played out in front of him and shuffled them in his hands. "Whether it surprises you or now, Bakugo doesn't have one yet."

"Keep talking like that and I'm going to kill you."

"What are your plans for the day, Midoriya?" The microwave dinged and Izuku took out the bowl, replacing it with another and starting the process again.

"Um, Eri and I are just gonna hang out today."

"Oh, that's sweet." Kirishima looked down at the cards and prepared to read them, before stopping himself and looking back up at his classmate. "That reminds me. I didn't see you yesterday. Where were you? I knocked on your door but you didn't respond, so I'm assuming you weren't here."

"I took Eri out into town with Mirio. Decided to show her some new places, and even bought her a few new books and clothes while we were there." The microwave dinged again, and Izuku took out the second bowl before digging around the utensils cabinet.

"How is Eri doing, by the way?" Mina turned around to watch Midoriya as he searched for what he needed.

"She's…doing alright. Great, even, but she still has her nervousness when she's confronted by someone else, so…"

"As long as she's happy, that's good." Sero collapsed his hand of cards and faced Midoriya as well. "What do you think that affairs person is going to say to us?"

Midoriya froze as he picked out two pair of chopsticks. The Heroes Personal Affairs Department was sending someone over today, and he had completely forgotten about it, and he didn't even tell Eri about it yesterday, either. He sighed and dropped his head into his hand. Hopefully, the meeting would go by fast enough so he could Eri the day she wanted and he promised.

Midoriya took a deep breath through his nose and took the breakfast in both hands, one cup in each. "Don't know yet" was all Midoriya responded with before walking back upstairs quickly with his head hanging down.

Four of the five sitting at the table watched Midoriya rush away from them up the steps. "Did I say something wrong?" Sero questioned, frowning as he drummed his fingers on the table.

"No you didn't – stop that." Jirou flicked her ear jack at Sero's hand to stop the tapping. "You didn't say anything wrong. He probably just worried they'll say something about Eri."

"Oh yeah, that's a good point," Kirishima nodded as he spoke. "He is a bit young to have a child in his care, officially. Maybe he's worried they'll move her to a new family."

"But didn't Midori say his mom is her legal parent now?" Mina brought up. "Technically, Eri would be in her care then. And if she had to stay with Midoriya's mom, he could just move back in and live with them for her sake."

"Well, that's true, but I don't think Midoriya wants to do that. He's smart, and if he wanted to do that, I think he would have come to that consensus by now. I think he's basically taken the role as Eri's legal guardian in his mother's place."

"Are you two using big words on purpose?" Kirishima and Mina turned their heads to face Sero with their questioning stares. "I don't remember the last time you two used those words, if you even have before. You guys don't usually talk like this."

"Hey, I can use 'big words' if I want to," Kirishima responded with a huff and air quotes to mock Sero's choice of words. "I'm not an idiot, alright? Midoriya and Iida and Momo use them all the time, so why can't I?"

"You are the farthest person from being like Yaoyorozu I have ever seen."

"Hey!"

Bakugo shot up from his seat, feet spread apart in a deep and aggressive stance, and his fingers curling inwards by his sides ready to guide explosions at the nearest target. "Sweet fucking Christ! Nobody fucking cares about Deku and his daughter or your low as shit IQ! Just read the damn cards already!"

"Hey! First of all, I have a decent IQ. And second, try not to yell so loudly. Don't want another incident with Eri like last time, do we?" Kirishima's voice got quieter as he spoke more towards the booming hero.

A growl came deep from Bakugo's throat as he glared at Kirishima. The two stared each other down before Bakugo scoffed and sat back down, clutching the arm rests with an iron grip.

"Fine," he spat out. "Just read the cards already, you soulless redhead."

"Hey!"

"And you fucking tell me not to yell. Jesus Christ."

* * *

Izuku smiled as Eri drummed her hands on his knees, sitting in his lap as they watched a video on his computer and sang along. While she was less than pleased that their day was going to be interrupted soon, she didn't complain. She was worried at the idea they would talk about her, and Izuku held similar worries, but he assured her that the talk would be nothing but beneficial on her behalf.

Izuku pet her hair softly and gently tapped a finger on her singular horn, making her giggle and squirm from the ticklish feeling. He had no idea why she had one, in comparison to none like him or two since it wasn't centered on her head, but assumed it must have come from her birthparent having their own. It stood out from the rest of Eri's looks, or it did to him, but Eri would at times become self-conscious of her horn and the attention his classmates had brought upon it, probably in regard to her past as Izuku could only assume, and Izuku always told her she looked cute with it, and that no one meant her any harm.

Eri leaned forward in Izuku's lap and moved the cursor on the screen, clicking to another video as the current one ended. As the new one began, Eri leaned back and nuzzled against Izuku's stomach, and Izuku wrapped his arms around Eri to hug her gently. He smiled and lifted Eri slightly up his torso, leaning his head down and kisses the top of her head.

"Happy?" It was a simple question, but Izuku didn't feel the need to elongate it any more than that.

"Mhm," was the almost hummed response Eri gave him. Her eyes stayed glued to the screen as she cuddled in Izuku's arms. "What are we gonna do for lunch, daddy?"

"Well, first of all, we just had breakfast so you'll have to wait a little longer." Izuku poked the sides of Eri's stomach to get her giggling. "If you're hungry right now, I'll let you snack on something. No meal just yet. But as for what lunch could be. It depends on what you want to eat. I could make us something here or I can order us something to be brought here. Whichever you'd prefer."

Eri looked up to Izuku and opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by a knock on the door. With a small "Eep" Eri jumped in surprise, and Izuku hugged her tighter to both calm her down and keep her from colliding with his chin. Eri squirmed in his arms, and the more she did the more violent she got, so Izuku loosened his grip to let her turn around to face him. She dived against him, hands gripping the chest of his shirt and face pressed against his chest so only the corner of her eye could see the door. She wasn't anywhere near terrified, but the shivering was enough to tell Izuku to hug her tightly again.

"It's unlocked," Midoriya called out, head tilted down towards Eri's and twisted at the neck to face his bedroom door. As it opened, Eri clenched tighter to Izuku's shirt, and he tightened his hug, before the face of Denki Kaminari peeked into the room.

"Hey Midoriya," Kaminari greeted before adding on a smile. "Hey Eri."

Eri looked back with the one available eye, nodding her head only slightly as her greeting. "Hey Kaminari," Izuku responded. "What can I help you with?" Denki turned his attention to Izuku, and the One For All wielder could feel Eri's grip loosen by a millimeter.

"The guy from the Heroes Association is here, down in the lounge area. He's wanting to make sure the whole class is present in the building, asking us to come down."

Izuku stared blankly at his classmate before remembering the message from yesterday and nodding his head. "Alright I'll be down there in a second. Thanks."

"No problem." Denki's eyes darted from Izuku to Eri for a moment before he gave a wave to the two and walked away, closing the door as he did so.

Izuku looked down to the girl in his lap, who was hiding her face in his chest. He leaned his head down and gave a soft kiss to the top of her head, petting her hair softly as he did so.

"I have to go down now," Izuku told her. Eri curled down into his lap, and Izuku curled around her. "You don't have to come down if you don't want to. You can stay in here and watch if you'd rather, okay?"

Eri spoke softly in response, but she did nod her head.

"Are you hungry still? I'll grab you a snack real quick if you'd like." A shake of her head. "You sure?" A nod.

Izuku rested his face in her hair. "I'll do what I can to get him to talk with me first, so I can give you the day I promised you, alright? I just do this one thing, and then the two of us can continue everything together."

"Promise?" Izuku pecked her head again.

"Promise."

Eri shuffled in his lap, and Izuku straightened out, letting her move off his and onto the bed to face the computer screen again. Izuku climbed off the bed and stretched out his body before turning back to the little girl and surprising her with a hug.

"I love you, Eri." She did nothing at first, but after a while, she twisted her body towards him and hugged back.

"I love you too daddy." Izuku smiled as he saw a smile, small but real, appear on Eri's face. He gave her a soft squeeze in the hug before letting go.

"I'll be right back. I promise." He ruffled her hair slightly and gave her another smile before walking out and leaving the door open just a bit. Even if she didn't want to come down, he wasn't going to give her the feeling of being locked in by herself at a time like this.

* * *

Now the lounge was packed with people. Almost everyone was downstairs, par a few noticeable absences that Midoriya noted. Most of his classmates were piled around the couches, and a few more in the kitchenette. The most notable presences were that of Iida and Todoroki by the front door, accompanied by a suited man that Midoriya didn't recognize, and who was probably the person the Heroes Association sent over to the school. He didn't look anything special, but if he were to guess, Izuku thought it was probably his quirk was more internal based, maybe even similar to the principals.

Iida looked to be the one leading the conversation, and once he stopped talking about whatever it was he was talking about (Midoriya could barely here is own breathing in the room, much less Iida's words from across it), the man turned his head and body, gazing about the room before his eyes landed on Midoriya. He made no gesture, wave or smiles or anything of the sort, but his gaze lingered before continuing on through the room.

Then he spoke, just a bit louder than everyone else. "Is this everyone?" His voice drew the attention of most, except Jirou who looked back towards Midoriya, and said Midoriya who turned to look back up the steps just in time to catch Denki as he came stumbling down.

The electric hero let out a nervous laugh as he got back on his own feet. "Thanks Midoriya." He scratched the back of his head to accompany his laugh in mood. "You're a life saver."

"Ah." The two boys turned their attention to the new man, along with the rest of their class. "Thank you for going around and getting everyone, Mr. Kaminari. Is this everyone who is here today? I notice a few faces are missing." The man opened a binder in his hands, one Midoriya didn't notice until now, and looked down at one of the pages he opened to.

"Uh, no, everyone is here, but it's just that Uraraka, Yaoyorozu, and Mineta are all up in their rooms, finishing something or other real quickly. They said they'll be down soon."

"Alright. Well, since there isn't much that I am required to say beforehand, I'll tell them when I have to meet with them." The man cleared his throat to assure that all attention was on him. "First, allow me to introduce myself. I am Mr. Chain from the Heroes Personal Affairs Department, but you already know the latter. It is custom for the Association to send someone to the hero school and meet with the freshman classes, in both high school and again in college. While I am meeting with all of you, colleagues of mine will be meeting with your other freshman classes to talk about similar things, depending on their emphasis. For my branch and focus today, it is my job to help upcoming heroes into the new world and assist them during their lives as such."

Mr. Chain looked around the common space at the students until his eyes rested on the hand raised in the back. "Yes, Midoriya?"

A few heads turned to look back at the green haired hero, and though he flinched slightly at their gazes, he continued on with his goal and lowered his arm. "One of the third years told me, or at least your department did, you helped them in designing their hero attire. Doesn't that fall a bit out of your department's focus?"

The suited man hummed and regained attention. "Somewhat, yes," he admitted. "But we do try to help heroes regardless anyways. While the heroic work isn't our focus, there are times we will mix in our main work with theirs."

Another hand shot up, and Mr. Chain nodded to them.

"Sorry if this sounds a bit rude, "Hagakure started as her floating clove lowered, "but why was the department created? Most heroes don't really live doubles lives. The lives of heroes, and who they are, are usually open to the public, aren't they?"

"Yes, many are open to the public with their lives. But not everyone is. Take All-Might for example. For decades he worked under a mask we couldn't see, and lived a life separate from being a hero. Almost no one knew of it, and it was something the public never suspected. But he has his reasons for doing it. His hiding was justified. It is our job, my job, to assist you in that second life, if you choose to live one and if you choose to live that life in secret." A few students nodded their head in understanding, and Iida himself seemed to be the most worked up of the bunch following that explanation.

"Now, onto the meetings themselves, if there aren't any more questions." Mr. Chain looked around the room to see no hands raised. "There will be one-on-one meetings with each of you, with me. If it is alright with you, we can use your rooms for the meetings, since this building doesn't have a designated room for that and I'd rather not have to take you away from your rooms and plans on a weekend – oh right. Mr. Kaminari, since Yaoyorozu is still not present, can you run up to her and tell her she is the third meeting I have scheduled, and ask her if she is alright with using her room for the meeting?"

As Kaminari nodded and made his way back up the steps, Midoriya sulked in his spot. It seemed as though the man had an order to who he wanted to meet with. Although he didn't know the list, Midoriya didn't believe he would be anywhere high on it. Maybe he could talk with him real quick and try to make it work that he could have their meeting done earlier…

"Alright, Izuku Midoriya. You're up first."

…or not.

Izuku blinked as he heard his name called out, staring at Mr. Chain with a hint of disbelief before nodding slowly.

"You have a child who lives with you, correct? Eri Midoriya, as she now goes by legally. Lives in the dorms with you instead of back home with the misses, your mother. But it seems she and the school have given these circumstances the green light, so there's no need to fight that ruling. Is she here today?"  
"Y-yes." Midoriya gestured up the stairs. "She's back in our room."

Mr. Chain nodded and gestured to the door behind him. "Would you mind stepping outside with me for our meeting, then?" While the request was odd in his eyes and the back of his mind, Midoriya nodded again and made his way around the room, avoiding his classmates as he approached the representative.

Mr. Chain opened the door but stopped a step short from leaving. He pulled a paper out from his binder and handed it to the class president still beside him.

"This is the list of the order of the meetings," he explained to Iida, but loud enough so everyone else could hear him. "You're all welcome to give it a once over and see where you are in the order. Should give you an idea of the time you have to work out any last preparations before we meet with one another. Thank you all for your time today." With that, he walked out the door, and Izuku followed behind him.

* * *

Todoroki watched Midoriya and Mr. Chain as they took huddles just steps away from the building's entrance, as Iida read over the timesheet and walked over to the group in the common area.

"I wonder how he decided to order this," the engine quirk user voiced his thoughts. "The order seems a bit strange. I thought it would be in class number order."

Sero extended an arm in Iida's direction and took the list after he had given it a look over. "Maybe it's by class standings then?"

"Then shouldn't Yaoyorozu be first served?" Mina countered Sero's guess.

"Good point." Sero's eyes dropped from one line to the next, dragging a finger along with his gaze. "But I am on the list where I think I would be. I'll only believe this isn't class standings because Bakugo is higher up."

"You got something to say to my face, duct tape?!"

Jirou snatched the list from Sero as he tried to hide behind the crouch from Bakugo's rage. "Yeah, I can't think of why he ordered it like this, unless our understanding of the class grades are wrong. I wonder how Midoriya got first and, Hell, Todoroki, you're up second."

Todoroki turned his attention away from the window and towards his classmates. "Maybe it is heroics work then. His job is to help heroes' lives outside of being a hero, so maybe it's a priority list on who's been more active than others in the field of heroics."

"The why the hell would that fucker go first?" Bakugo turned his attention away from Sero and jabbed a thumb towards Midoriya as he spoke.

"The raid they got Eri from." Heads turned in the direction of Iida. "He was at the front of the fight during it all. Meet Chisaki face-to-face. Maybe that's why."

Jirou handed Mina the list and took her leave back upstairs. "But what about Uraraka, Tsuyu and Kirishima?" The pink skinned girl darted her eyes up and down the list. "They should be high up too then, but Ura is only sixth and Tsu and Kiri aren't even top 10." Jirou stopped halfway up the steps and turned her head back in the direction of her class, and in doing so, was not given the time to react as Denki came tumbling down the stairs into her and sent them both down to the bottom.

"Watch where you're going, you idiot!" Jirou yelled at him as she pushed him off and poked him in the eye with one of her ear jacks.

"OW! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do that! Don't stab my eyes!"

"Hey." The soft voice beside his ear made Todoroki jump away from the source, only to see the floating clothes of Hagakure beside him, facing out the window. "I think something's wrong with Midori."

Todoroki gave her a look before turning his attention back out the window to his classmate and the department representative. And true to her words, something was wrong. Izuku Midoriya was having a panic attack.

At least that's what Todoroki was calling his friend's actions. Izuku's eyes were wide, his mouth, when he wasn't talking, was agape, and when he was talking Todoroki could hear how high a volume his voice was at. It wasn't audible and clear to make out, but it was loud enough that Shoto could make out the unease and fear to it. He looked mortified, and Todoroki didn't know why.

"What do you mean?" Iida questioned as he stood up and made his way to the window to see for himself.

"Midoriya is freaking out," Hagakure answered. "I don't know why, but he doesn't look too good. And it doesn't look like Mr. Chain is having an easy time helping Midoriya. He looks troubled too, and I can't tell is he's helping enough to calm Midori down."

"What could he have said that would have Midoriya acting like this?" No one had an answer for that, and Todoroki grew more concerned for his friend as he and Mr. Chain tried to work out the situation between them.

Iida watched through the window to his friend, as he slowly gained his bearings and sat down in the grass, while Mr. Chain stayed on his feet. The man looked down on Midoriya was what seemed to be pity as he continued speaking, pulling papers out of his binder and handing them to the boy. Iida could see Midoriya's lips move, but only in small bursts, while Mr. Chain's moved more and led the conversation they were still having. "If these weren't one-on-one meetings, I wouldn't mind one bit being by Midoriya's side right about now." Todoroki nodded in agreement.

The two outside continued to talk until eventually it looked as though neither of them were. Mr. Chain shuffled through the pages of his binder as the two stood and sat in silence, before he pulled out a smaller, colored sheet of paper from one of the pages. He crouched down and handed the paper to Midoriya, and spoke some more. Though still visibly shaken, Midoriya's eyes widened in surprise in awe in response to Mr. Chain's words. He nodded when the man finished talking, and spoke words of his own and he picked himself off the grass.

The two came walking back to the building, but as Mr. Chain took pause in the common area after entering, Midoriya walked past him and the rest of his class through the room.

"Midoriya," Iida called out to him. He had hoped to talk with the shorter of the two and find out what was wrong so he could offer help, but Midoriya just kept on walking. "Where are you going? What's wron–"

"I'll tell you later," Izuku interrupted as he went up the stairs. "I have to go." Jirou made the motion to try and stop him, but ceased all efforts as the boy passed her up the steps and kept on going.

Mr. Chain looked around the room at the students before settling his sights on the few by the window, looking in the direction of their classmate. He made no attempt to call them out, but he did turn his body to face them.

"Shoto Todoroki, it looks like you're next on the list." Shoto turned his attention to the man in the room. "Would you like to meet outside as well or would you rather conduct the meeting in your room?"

Todoroki spared his class a glance out of the corner of his eye and hesitated before responding. "My room will be fine."

Mr. Chain nodded and followed Todoroki to the elevator, stopping only to ask Denki for Yaoyorozu's response.

* * *

Izuku steadied his breath as he climbed up the steps to his room. The papers in his hands shifted, so he pressed the bottom edges to his stomach and shuffled them back together before continuing. His mind was lost to the words Mr. Chain has shared with him. The information about Eri was easy to stomach, and the ideas for how to move forward as her father were welcomed, but the rest was concerning. To a large extent.

It wasn't tha last thing in the world he wanted to hear, but since none of the others were said, it was the worst thing to hear. Izuku couldn't believe that his ears heard it right to begin with. He thought he would know himself better than anyone, and that he would have thought of this about himself long ago, but he didn't and he was nothing other than surprised to the soul when he heard those words…

Izuku was broken out of his thoughts as he collided with someone, sending him back and almost down a flight of stairs if he wasn't fast enough to catch himself first. He clutched his papers to his chest and looked up to see who he ran into and apologized and _oh on, Uraraka._

"S-sorry about that, Uraraka," Izuku apologized, bowing as he did so.

"I-It's okay, Deku." Uraraka herself was blushing slightly as she rubbed the back of her head nervously. "I wasn't looking where I was going either. I had the meeting on my mind and…oh…" Izuku noted Uraraka's face switch from nervous to blank.

"What's wrong Uraraka?"

"Deku…you're crying…"

"Huh?" He wasn't crying, Izuku was sure of that. He would have noticed if he was. He blinked in confusion at her claim and then he could feel the tears in his eyes. He must have really been distracted not to notice that.

"Oh. _Oh_." Izuku raised an arm to wipe away the tears he didn't remember coming from his eyes. "I didn't notice. Sorry about that, and for running…into…you…" Izuku's words were lost in his throat as Uraraka was against him again, this time in the form of a hug. "U-Uraraka?"

"It's okay Deku." Izuku could hear her soft voice beside his ear, along with the heat of her breath. He couldn't help himself from blushing at how close she was. "I'm here to listen. So is Iida. And Todoroki. You have friends here, if you need someone to talk to."

"Uraraka…" Izuku didn't cry. He was checking this time. He didn't want to worry her more by doing so, seeing as she was worried enough to start hugging him. "…thank you. But I can't talk about it right now."

"Why not?"

"It's just…" very jarring new to receive, given it's been around since I signed up for admission to UA and it's only the first time hearing about it "…I'm not ready to talk about it yet." Izuku let his free arm fall and return the hug Uraraka was giving. "I promise I'll tell you some other time, maybe soon, but not right now. I need some time. I'm sorry."

"You're crying, Deku. You have nothing to apologize for." Izuku chuckled slightly. He didn't really believe those words, but everything she did was sweet. Too sweet for him.

"Not even for worrying you?"

"No apologizing."

"Alright…alright." The two stood still in their ever-silent-growing hug. "Thank you for this, but I need to go to Eri right now."

"Oh, okay." She sounded sad in her reply, but she still let go and stepped back to look him in the eyes, keeping her hands on his arms. "Is she okay?"

"Yes, she's fine. I promised a Sunday just for the two of her and I, but the Heroes Personal Affairs representative meeting kinda interrupted that, and I have to head home to my mom now too, so…"

"Oh, you already met with them?"

"Yeah, and I was the first person he wanted to talk to." Izuku scratched the side of his head. "Weird, huh?"

"…Is that why you were crying?" The smile Izuku was trying to muster faded away.

"…Yes."

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it now?" Izuku let a sigh out his nose.

"Not yet. I promise you and Iida I'll tell you both in the future what it's about, but not right now."

Uraraka pouted, probably due to having to wait to find out what was wrong, but she just sighed it away. "Fine, I won't press you for it. But I expect you to keep your promise in return."

Izuku nodded. "I will." Uraraka smiled at him, and he was able to smile back. "Most everyone is downstairs in the lounge. There is a list of the order to the meetings, if you're curious to know when yours should be."

"Really? Good, I'll go take a look at it then." As she walked past Izuku, she looked over her shoulder to him. "Tell Eri I say I and…good luck."

Izuku watched Uraraka descend down the stairs before letting out a breath he had been holding in. Izuku really did have friends better than he could ever imagine. They were almost too good for _someone like him_.

He made his way to his room, opening the door slowly to reveal the figure of Eri dancing on his bed to the music on the computer. He smiled at the sight and let out a laugh as the young girl jumped into his arms.

"Welcome back daddy!" Eri giggles and hugged Izuku by the neck to keep herself from falling out as he carried her with one arm and used the other to put the papers face down on his desk.

"Hey Eri. I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long." The little girl shook her head and hit Izuku in the face with her hair. He recoiled in good nature and shook his own head to send her hair off his face.

"Nope! Now we can spend the Sunday together!"

Izuku could hear the smile on his face break away at her words. "Eri."

"Hm?" The little girl looked up to Izuku as his voice changed tone.

"We won't be spending Sunday here." Eri stared back at Izuku as he spoke, and he could see the mirth in her eyes dissipate, so he worked fast and continued talking. "We will be spending it together back home with mom. Something came up in the meeting and it's made me…I have to go home and talk with her about something, and I can't leave you here, and I promised you a day together, so we can spend it together in my old room while we're there, after we're done talking. If he's available, maybe Uncle Toshi can drive us over, and pick us up some lunch on the way there too, if you want. And if you're alright with spending the day over there, it means you could have a big dinner at the end of the day, if that sounds good to you."

Izuku could see that Eri was struggling with all the words Izuku had thrown her way, and he sighed and kissed her forehead softly. "I know I promised you a Sunday to ourselves and things keep coming in the way of it, but this is important stuff. I want to give you the day I promised you. I'm sorry today has been going the way it has."

Eri frowned, and Izuku worried he had been the cause of it and made her sad, but she leaned forward into his chest and hugged him tighter. "It's okay daddy. I understand. Thank you."

Izuku leaned his face into her hair and breathed softly against her scalp. "I love you Eri."

"I love you too, daddy."

The two stood still in their little hug before Izuku lifted his head. "Now, let's grab you some things to bring and see if Uncle Toshi is around to drive us over."


	3. 1-3

**Okay, really, what is wrong with me?**

 **I told myself, constantly, that this chapter would be shorter. That this chapter would be the shortest of the three. But just like last time, I end up making it longer and now it's over 7000 words. Fantastic.**

 **Like, I write nearly all of this stuff out on paper so I have a solid outline to go off of for a second draft, which you see before you. That is how much effort I gotta put into my writing. But every time I do this, the endings of these chapters just make themselves. The last sections to each of these three chapters were kinda out of nowhere and weren't written, just typed and added in, because I thought it worked better in the story this way. Guess I gotta deal with this making length longer than expected.**

 **Anyways, now that I'm don't complaining about myself, let's get down to the important stuff. This is the last chapter for this story, for the next two months. If any of you arte from my oldest stories and saw the notes I left on them, I planned on making these and only these and then giving the story time to settle. In that time, there is a question I have for you all who enjoy this story so very much, because goddammit, 76 followers is more than I thought I would get off of two chapters. 12 thousand words, but still two chapters. Thank you all for reading and liking and commenting, all of you who have. It means a lot to know people enjoy this, and it lets me know I can keep writing this story, and I will. Starting the new year, this story will be thrown into the rotation, so I'll have five stories on here to work on simultaneously. Good luck, me.**

 **At the end of this chapter will be a questionnaire, and you can leave your vote in the comments. I have two ideas for the path this story can go down, but I'm curious to see what would be wanted more. I know this is my own work, for me to control entirely like a supreme overlord, but I might lean towards one path if it is demanded greatly more than the other.**

 **Now, before we move on, I shall address comments again, because it makes me feel good to see people critique my work and your praise inflates my ego and pride. Thank you.**

 **To Jadej.j and HotSoup2017: I would kill myself if I took Eri away from Izuku so early in the story. That would not work well and would make people want to crucify me more than some already do. And thank you for the story praise.**

 **To Wonderland Tea Party: Yeah, I can't not see Tin-Tin when I see Mirio. I have a full box set of those comics at home. He has some amazing adventures. Thank you for the compliments.**

 **To GodAmongGods: The writing of the bond between Izuku and Eri is a blessing and a pain to write, because I love it so much and I don't want to see it end but I feel like I'm changing the characters too much to make it work. I'm doing my best to keep in line with their personalities, but I can't help but worry every time I do that I'm messing them up and doing the characters a disservice. And here's the next update.**

 **To Guest and Alexis Andres Arenas: Thank you for commenting. I'm happy to hear the joy of the readers as much as I do seeing the notifications of favs and follows.**

 **And now, without further delay, chapter 3. Do enjoy.**

* * *

Izuku ran a hand through Eri's hair as she rested over his lap. He kept his eyes out the window instead of on her or All-Might, instead choosing to watch the buildings they passed.

His morning was stressful, or at least the meeting was stressful, and everything since then had been less than great. Every second he had Eri by his side was soothing and helped more than he thought it would, but it didn't change the news he had been given. All-Might too struggled with the news, and to find peace in the situation back when Izuku explained what was going on, but he had still done what he could to calm down Midoriya when he freaked out about it again.

Was the Hero Association really that worried? They had been holding back information for months that was the type that should have been brought forward immediately. If it had come forth months ago, his mom would have pulled him out of Yuei for it. _Why wasn't she, of all people, told about this before? If it was anyone else, would their family had been told immediately? Did anyone else even show signs for the Association to be concerned over?_

"You're muttering again, Young Midoriya." Izuku blinked and blushed as he looked forward into the rearview mirror, and into the eyes of his idol, looking back at him with concern. Midoriya lowered his head as he continued to comb Eri's hair.

"Sorry, All-Might," he apologized weakly. He could hear his mentor sigh from the driver's seat.

"Don't apologize Midoriya. It's a part of you. No reason to say sorry when it's no harm. What troubles you?" Izuku blinked and cupped his other hand gently on the top of Eri's head. "Sorry, bad question. Of course I know what's troubling you. What's going through your mind right now, my boy?"

"It's the same thing, All-Might." Toshinori Yagi spared a glance in the mirror back to his protégé. "I just…I don't know what to do right now."

"You push forward. You've done it time and time again. I know you can push through this too. I have faith in that."

"But you've never gone through this." Toshinori squinted his eyes and raised an eyebrow when looked into the reflection of Midoriya. "You've fought villains and helped civilians and saved them and I've learned to do that from you. You've gone through being quirkless and so have I. You've been teaching me to take your place as the Symbol of Peace, and I've had you for guidance through everything but this isn't something you've had to deal with before. Even with the amount you've pushed yourself to save everyone, you haven't been put –"

"Midoriya." Izuku closed his mouth and raised his head back up to look into the eyes of his mentor. "My boy, I think you have a skewed perspective on what I've been teaching and training you for. I want you to take my place, not my personality." Toshinori let out a weak laugh at his attempt to lighten the mood but only succeed in coughing on his hands. "Look, Midoriya, it is true that I have been training you to replace me as the Symbol of Peace. I haven't stopped that. You've shown your worth many times to me that this is something you deserve, but you shouldn't be telling yourself to become me. That's never what I've meant. You are different from me in many ways already, and have done things I wouldn't have ever done or did when I was your age. You've mastered One For All in ways I never even dreamed of when I was training to wield it. Even when your classmates are pinned against you as enemies, you've exhausted your strength to help them with the problems that have weighed down on their shoulders for years in a matter of minutes." As they came upon a red light, Toshinori took the opening to turn around in his seat to face Midoriya directly.

"And you've done what I never did and took a child into your care," he added, nodding to the sleeping girl. Midoriya followed his gaze down to look at her too. "It's only been a month since she's been out of Chisaki's grasp and into your families care, and she trusts you whole heartedly. You've helped her in ways I've never, and that includes what you've confiscated in telling me since the day I met you. You've done enough to define yourself as your own hero from me, Midoriya." Toshinori watched Izuku's shoulders slump as his hands worked Eri's hair behind her ears. "This isn't the end of the world, my boy. I can promise you that. You're strong, you're brave, you're smart, and you've taken place as her father figure. You've proved me and so many others wrong on how we first thought of you, and I know you can do it again, here. The hardest part is behind us already. Now power through this too, for yourself, for your mother and your friends, and for Little Eri."

Izuku gulped and strained his neck as he looked up to All-Might with tears forming in his eyes. He struggled for a moment on what to say before his eyes widened, looking past the hero. "Green light."  
"Huh?" Toshinori turned away from Izuku to see the car in front of them moving away. "Oh, right. Thank you, Midoriya."

Izuku nodded and raised an arm to wipe away his tears, and hid the small smile of gratitude forming from his lips. All-Might was right, on so much. Izuku turned his head below his arm and looked down at the stack of papers beside him that Mr. Chain had given to him. On the top of them all was the small blue sheet of paper that was given to Mr. Chain to be given to him. He reached over and picked it up, lingering his eyes on the words and numbers before grabbing his phone from his pocket and typing them in.

"Midoriya, may I ask you something? It is not about the meeting or news, so don't worry about that."

"Uh…sure. What is it?"

"When did Eri start calling you daddy?" Izuku froze his finger over his phone after he confirmed what he'd typed, and Toshinori smiled back at him in the rearview mirror. "You seemed really comfortable when she said it earlier, so I assume it isn't a relatively new occurrence."

Izuku flushed as he remembered the _ever so slight_ detail that he had not shared this revolutionary change with his mentor, who instead found out from experience of being present when it happened. Or his classmates, some of who found out about it in the same way before the whole news reached everyone in his class. Or Mirio, who found out instead when he was watching over Eri for Izuku and she had called him such when they brought the hero student into conversation. Or his mom, who still didn't kn _oh my god._

Midoriya lowered his head as he began to process the fact that the two parental figures in his life, one of which was by blood (and technically both of them were by DNA but Izuku doubted the strand of hair was still physically in his body), did not know that Izuku was being referred to as a parental figure as well. It's only really important information he probably should have shared with them earlier, but he never did. Even with every conversation he's had with them between then, neither of them were told about this.

"Two weeks," Izuku muttered his answer. It was still clear enough for All-Might to hear it, and he showed that he did when his head made a motion back into the head cushion of his seat.

"She's been calling you this for two weeks and I'm only hearing about this now?"

Izuku turned his head to face the window once more and scratched at his cheek. "Well you never asked…"

Toshinori laughed, luckily not spilling blood this time around. "I most certainly did ask."

"You asked how she was doing."

"And that would include you telling me any new developments to her secluded nature. Her being open and comfortable around you enough to think of you as her father counts. Have you been holding this information to yourself for two whole weeks?"

Izuku nodded sheepishly. "It didn't feel right to just say it out at random."

"Fair enough, but that still doesn't stop my curiosity." Toshinori looked back to his student in the mirror. Did you at least tell your mother?"

The lack of response and physical showing of lowering his head was an answer enough for the hero. Toshinori sighed as he continued driving the three of them. "It must mean a lot to you that she calls you her father if you haven't shared this with your mother and I."

"That makes you sound like _my_ dad, now."

Toshinori let out a choke of a sound. "Not you too. I have enough to deal with Present Mic joking about me being a father to your whole class. I don't need you turning on me and agreeing with him. Dad Might is not something I need floating around to boost Mic's ego."

Izuku let out a small laugh of his own, but the two found their conversation interrupted by a yawn coming from the young girl in Izuku's lap. Midoriya looked down at Eri as she stretched her body and opened her eyes. "Hey, Eri. Did you sleep well?"

Eri turned her head to look up at Izuku, only taking in his form and ignoring their vehicle surroundings. "Yes daddy…daddy what's wrong?" Eri pushed herself up gently and had her body facing Izuku as she stood up.  
"Hm?" Izuku blinked at her and could feel the tears still present on his face. "Oh, right." Izuku smiled down at her and wrapped her in a one-armed hug. "It's fine Eri. Nothing's wrong. They're happy tears, not sad tears. I promise." Eri hugged back, and Izuku wondered if she believed him. "Uncle Toshi and I were talking, and he was just helping me feel better." Izuku turned his head to face his mentor looking back at him while still facing forward. "Thank you, All-Might."

Toshinori nodded and smiled back at him. "It's no trouble, my boy. Helping is all in a day's work, especially for you. And speaking of you." The car slowed down and turned slightly as the hero parked it against the curb. "We're home."

Izuku looked out the window to see apartment complex beside them and nodded solemnly, rubbing Eri's back with his hand. Now it was time to see his mother.

* * *

"Welcome home, Izuku!"

Midoriya let out a grunt and hugged his mother with his free arm as she hugged him. "Hey mom. Sorry for calling you and coming home on such a short notice."

"It's fine, it's fine. You can come home whenever you like, remember that." Inko Midoriya released her son and crouched down to the young girl beside him. "Welcome home, Eri."

Eri was positioned so she was facing Midoriya with her whole body, with one hand holding his and another wrapped around his front gripping his shirt. She didn't flinch away as she faced her, only gripping Izuku tighter. "Hi Aunty Inko."

Inko smiled and reached a hand out to Eri to pet her. The little girl closed her eyes and leaned her head slightly in the direction of Inko to let her do so. "Still calling me that, sweetie?"

"Well, she calls me Uncle Toshi, so it isn't too farfetched," All-Might interrupted as he took off his coat and hung it up by the door.

"She calls Mirio the same, so I think it's something to be happy about," Izuku quipped to his mentor, turning his head to face the older man as he did so.

"I am. I fell honored that she thinks so highly of me."

"If she thought any greater of you, she could be calling you Father Toshi – or even better, Dad Might," Inko joked as she stood back up, only to find herself confused as Izuku choked back a laugh and Toshinori threw his head back with a groan.

"The world must be my new greatest foe for it has done nothing but transpired against me."

Inko turned to her son for an explanation, and he shared with her what All-Might has shared with him in the car. The mother shared a giggle with her son.

"It's not an awful name, All-Might."

"You can just call me Mr. Yagi, Mrs. Midoriya. And you're right, it's not an awful name; just not one I'm willing to accept if it means I have 20 kids under my wings to deal with forever." Toshinori stepped closer and placed a hand on Izuku's head. "Any more than this kid gives me and I might have a heart attack from all the stress."

Izuku squinted his eyes at his idol, but turned his attention away to look down at the little girl tugging at his shirt, and bringing All-Might's gaze down with him. The Symbol of Peace frowned as he thought before turning his mouth into a straight line again.

"Young Midoriya, why don't you and Eri go to your old room? You told me you promised her a day for her to have you, right? Why don't you get a start on that? I'll have the talk with your mother."

Izuku looked back up to his teacher with a questioning gaze, but didn't question as he saw the expression All-Might gave him in return. He looked back down to Eri, and could tell he heard All-Might, if the big, pleading eyes were any indication.

Izuku looked to his mother last. "Is it alright if Eri and I go to my room?"

Inko smiled and waved a hand dismissively. "Of course, Izuku. You two go have fun okay? Oh, and are any of you hungry? I can cook us some lunch if you'd like."

"It's alright mom. Eri was getting hungry as we left so we picked her something up on the way here. Thank you though." Izuku hugged his mom again and shared an "I love you/I love you too" with her before picking up Eri and carrying her over to the room.

Izuku breathed softly in her hair as he opened the door and lifted her over to the bed. He moved to lie her down but she wouldn't let go so he opted to instead lie down with her. She made no complaints about that, snuggling against Izuku in happiness.

"What would you like to do now, Eri?" Izuku spoke softly as he rubbed her back. "We could watch something, I could read you a story, we could draw whatever. You get to choose."

"I wanna draw," Eri's muffled response came from against his chest.

"Alright. Do you already have an idea in mind?"

Eri nodded but said nothing, so Izuku guessed she just wanted to keep it a surprise. He got off the bed and went to his desk, pulling out papers and pens for the two of them to use, happy to see them where he left them.

He placed them out separately on his desk and picked Eri off his bed, moving her into his desk chair so she had a more solid surface to draw on. As she took the pen in hand, Izuku sat down at the edge of his bed and faced the table. He took a pen in hand and positioned the paper in front of him, and just stared at the blank sheet as he tapped his fingers on his pen. He couldn't think of what to draw. Until he looked up, and he knew just what to put down.

Izuku started with her hair first, or really the outline of it. They had yet to take her to get a haircut, so it had kept growing down her body and legs. He was hoping to take her to get one soon, but a stranger and a pair of scissors isn't a good combination for Eri to trust right away. In due time.

With the outline of her hair done, he worked slowly on the shape of her head and dress, doing his best to keep the proportions in line with the hair outline. When the two pieces were shaped as close as they could be to even, he drew her arms and legs and her little unique horn, and then added the smaller details. Her eyes, her nose, her mouth, her shoes, the flowers of her dress, the frills that decorated each opening in it for her head, arms and legs.

It wasn't perfect but it was better than most of his hero journal drawings. He stared down at his drawing of her; at the little floral pattern of the dress he got her; at her long white hair reaching just above her knees; at the small smile he drew her lips in. He frowned, not because of how it looked, but because his mind had gone right back to the meeting with Mr. Chain, because it affected Eri.

Izuku would never in a million years tell her what Mr. Chain told him. That isn't something he wanted her to know about, ever. He felt awful just telling All-Might about it, that he couldn't even begin to think of how his mother or classmates would react if they knew, and how awful and heart wrenching Eri's reaction would be if she found out. He didn't want to worry her, or make her sad, or make her cry, or anything like that. He wanted to see her happy, to see her smile, and never let her lose that.

"Daddy." And when he looked up to her he saw just that. Eri, sitting in his chair, smiling and kicking her legs as her arms crossed over her drawing to hide the big surprise to come. This is what he wanted Eri to have forever.

"Yes, Eri? Did you finish drawing?" She nodded. "Ready to show me?" She nodded again and stood beside her to see it. Eri lifted her arms off her piece of art and Izuku would fight anyone who said she wasn't the most precious little girl in the world.

He could see the rough yet cute drawings she had done of his mom, All-Might when he's skinny, and Mirio, all placed at different edges on the paper with the nickname she had for them resting below their feet. At the center of the page stood two other figures other figures. The shorter of the two had long hair and a spike coming out of her head, and Izuku could read the word below it: "me." The taller one has two big ears on the top of its head, resembling that of a bunny, and Izuku could see her writing of "daddy" below the feet. He smiles at her drawings, but couldn't help tearing up at what she had wrote at the bottom of the paper.

"Daddy?" Eri had turned to see his reaction only to find him crying. "Daddy, what's wrong?"

"N-nothing wrong," Izuku said as he worked on balancing his voice and keep it from cracking. He crouched down and wrapped both his arms around her in a hug. "I love your drawing, Eri. It's wonderful." He felt Eri wrap her arms around his neck, as he continued to stare at the work she had done, and the word she had written.

"Family."

This is what he wanted to protect. This is what he wanted her to have, and to never lose. After all she had been through, she deserved to have one, and he'd be damned if he left anyone take that away from her.

He planted a kiss on the top of her head. "I love you Eri."

"I love you too Daddy."

As the two stood in the hug, something came into Izuku's mind. Something from not too long ago. Something he remembered telling himself but that he didn't seem to follow enough. He almost laughed at the irony of it, but he knew those words meant everything, now more than ever.

 _In order to save others, in order to give Eri a family, I first gotta keep myself safe._

* * *

Toshinori watched Izuku carry Eri away with a returning frown, and kept his gaze on the boy's door even after it had closed and locked the two children away. He knew Izuku's mind lingered on the discussion he and Mr. Chain had in the morning. He knew Izuku was worried – even scared – by the information, and for many reasons was it justified.

Izuku had Eri listen to music to distract her and keep her calm and happy as the young boy shared with All-Might the information he had been given earlier in the day. And he had made it abundantly clear with his teacher to _never_ let Eri find out about it. She didn't need to know; not now, and hopefully not ever.

People knowing about it was one worry one its own, separate from Eri knowing, and the latter was possibly his biggest fear. Toshinori knew it pained Izuku to lie to her, but the two agreed that now was not the time for her to know and worry and fret and never let Izuku go the way he had promised her.

"She's really attached to Izuku still." Toshinori jumped as Inko broke him from his thoughts. He was lucky her back was to his as he did so. "It's sweet to see them get along so well."

"It's probably because Izuku spoils her," Toshinori explained. "There isn't a day that goes by when Izuku is in class I don't hear him, or hear about him, saying something or dedicating time to write and think about Eri and what he can do for her. She's as important in his mind and heart as his dream of being a hero." The words ending his sentence were a strain in his throat to speak. _This is my fault_.

Inko turned and smiles at Toshinori. "That's good to hear. I'm happy that they're so close after just a month." Her smiled faltered for a moment, Toshinori could see it, but it didn't fade away. "So what do you want to talk to me about? Izuku said he had something to say when he called, but he said it was best not to do on the phone."

Toshinori hesitated, and his mind darted for a bit before he found something to say. "One thing to add to Eri and Izuku's relationship," he began, looking hesitantly at the woman before him. "You didn't know that Eri calls Izuku 'daddy,' did you?"

The smile and joy that were taped to Inko's face fell off and replaced with a look of shock and surprise. "She does?"

"Yes. I found out about it earlier today. Apparently all the time they've spent together was enough for her to start calling him such. And he likes it, too. He's been withholding this information from us for two weeks?"

"Two weeks?!" Toshinori let out a chuckle and a nod.

"That's how I felt. And it probably explains why she calls you aunty instead of mom, too. I think it's a wonderful thing for her to call him. It looks to be helping him a lot."

"I…wow, I didn't know. It is…nice, I think, that she loves Izuku so much, so I guess I can't complain." Inko's head turned to look at the bedroom door of her son over her shoulder before turning back to the hero. "Is that all there was to tell me?"

Toshinori sighed as he turned his head away and looked down at the stack of papers on the table. The small paper on top caught his eye and he picked it up, giving it a once over before turning back to face Izuku's mother.

"Would you mind if we sit for this?" Toshinori gestured to the table as he questioned, and upon Inko's agreement the two took their seats across from one another.

Inko stared at Toshinori, waiting for him to speak, but the hero was distracted with a blue slip of paper in his hand. He appeared to be judging it intently, and that only worried her more. "What's wrong?" Her voice, once again, broke Toshinori from his thoughts as he looked up to the woman across from him.

"Oh, my apologies," Toshinori spoke in a hurry. "It's nothing. Just, Young Midoriya let me read these earlier when he talked with me about it, so I know what they all say, but he didn't show me this one."

"What is it?" Toshinori turned the paper in his hand at her request to show Inko the name and phone number written on it, in what looked to be English.

"I don't recognize the name, but it's probably someone the Hero association wants Izuku to speak with. I can only wonder what she would have to share with him."

"She?"

"It's an American girl's name, I believe, but it isn't of someone I recognize. Maybe she's another counselor or teach they think will be of help to Izuku." Toshinori looked down at the rest of the papers and blinked. "Speaking of which, did Midoriya tell you about the meeting he had this morning?"

"He mentioned something about it on the phone, but he didn't really say it was about."

"It's a mandatory one Yuei has with the Hero Association, and with most hero schools all over the globe. They send someone from their Heroes Personal Affairs Division to meet with hero freshman across the world. They help students and offer help to students that are soon-to-be heroes regarding their lives outside of heroics. Managing or hiding, the association has a lot of help to give. Most of what they told Izuku this morning was regarding Eri and the care of her." Toshinori took apart the pile of papers and handed about half of them to the mother. "They're proud in his efforts and actions in choosing to let Eri live not only with his family, but with him in his dorms for direct attention and care during the school year, since he still hasn't moved back here. A lot of that involves housing and education details, though Izuku told me he and Mirio were starting to work out on homeschooling Eri before they send her to a school around people she didn't know. Apparently it's a decision they came to yesterday."

Inko took a second to look away from the stack of papers she had begun reading. "Who?" she questioned, giving All-Might a look that mirrored her words as the papers were spread out in front of her.

"Oh, right, you two never did meet in person, have you? I thought you would have by now, but it's alright. Togata Mirio was with Izuku when they first met and then later saved Eri. They were both interns under Nighteye for the time being. He was hospitalized for a while following the raid. He's a good lad. You'd love to meet him."

"I think I remember Izuku telling me about him before…isn't he watching over Eri now, when Izuku is in class?"

"Yes, that's the one," Toshinori nodded. "Mirio had lost in quirk in battle. He's at the moment searching for a new school to attend, for a new career, since Yuei can no longer teach him their heroic courses the way they have been now that he no longer has his quirk. But he has agreed to keep Eri company when Izuku can't be with her. She's quite fond of him as well." Toshinori looked back down at the papers and felt his features drop as he remembered where the conversation had to go. "Miss Midoriya…"

"Inko is fine, Mr. Yagi." Toshinori looked back up into Inko's eyes.

"Then Toshinori or Toshi will be fine, too."

The look he was giving her scared Inko. It looked angry and sad and lost and hollow and unlike everything she had seen in his eyes before.

"Toshi…"

"Were you aware that Izuku was almost put on suicide watch?"

Inko froze and gaped at the question, looking in disbelief at the Symbol of Peace, whose eyes lost any sign of light as she lacked a verbal response.

"I thought not. It doesn't state in here that they informed any family members of Izuku, but I could still hope…"

"What?" Toshinori could hear the crack and pain in her voice without having to look up at her reaction to know it. "I-Izuku was put on suicide watch? When? Why?!"

"He wasn't put on it, he was almost put on it. The Hero Association had decided against putting him on the list for the time being, since they don't have any sufficient evidence anymore to say that Izuku is indeed suicidal."

"But why?" Inko's voice rose as she spoke up. "And what do you mean, 'anymore'? Why would they think of putting Izuku on a suicide watch? What did he do?"

Toshinori sighed again, unable to look into her eyes. _It's my fault_. "They had almost put him on the list since the day he applied to attend Yuei. A quirkless boy, going to attend a school for people with quirks, where the entrance exam for the heroics departments is a brawl against giant metal robots? The association was going to file him away after the exam had ended, until he had shown off his quirk. They tried to find what information they could as to how he had a quirk at all, and had come to the understanding that his had developed late, before he had applied for Yuei, and it was failed to be noted and registered under his official papers."

"But Izuku isn't suicidal!" Inko has risen from the chair to follow her voice's volume.

"They thought he was. Kid, no quirk, fighting robots with basic teenage strength. Adding to that the death threats and suicidal comments he had received in the past, Izuku wasn't given the benefit of the doubt."

"Someone told my son to kill himself!?"

"The association says this is something they had only found out recently, when they were looking for any last bit of information they thought they still needed to attain before the meeting. There isn't a name given to the person or people who had told him it, though." Toshinori couldn't find the strength to raise his head and look his in the eyes on this one. They stayed fixated on the papers below him. It was all he could bear to look at, even if it too pained him _. A mistake I had caused._

"Why am I only hearing of this now? They thought about putting him on suicide watch months ago, and only now do I find out? And you said it yourself, they don't think that 'anymore,' so why is it being brought up again? Why wasn't I told of this directly?!"

"They no longer believe him to be suicidal but they do believe Midoriya lacks the self-preservation to stay alive." Inko's steadily rising anger froze as Toshinori found strength in the pain to look up at her. "Instead of using his strength to free Uraraka during the entrance exam and get her to safety, he fights the giant robot and breaks three of his limbs. He breaks his arm again and takes a full blast from Bakugo head on during a training exercise. He charged villains far more experienced than him when they attack the USJ and broke his legs in doing so. He tore both his arms and a leg in his fight against Todoroki, one it seemed he threw on purpose with his actions. He charges head on into battle with the Hero Killer, nearly breaks every one of his bones at the training lodge when villains attack, and not even 48 hours after that does he decide to head back off into the face of danger to save Bakugo from the League of Villains as heroes were executing a raid to bring an end to their actions. And most recently, he drives his body beyond the brink during the Nighteye raid in a full battle with Chisaki. The Hero Association doesn't believe Midoriya wants to die, but they don't believe he takes his own life into matter when he acts as a hero, and that he could lose it if he isn't careful."

Inko lowered herself back into the chair slowly as the words All-Might directed at her began sinking in. Izuku, her own son, not having the will to live? She didn't believe that to be the case at all. But the longer the list went on the worse her worry became. _Had he really risked his own life that much in such a short amount of time?_

"Izuku has hurt himself too many times for the Hero Association to not be concerned. They thought it was best to voice their thoughts now that he has a child under his direct care. They want to be certain that he is trying his hardest to stay alive, for his family, for his friends, for himself, and for Eri most of all. And Izuku thought it best you heard of it as soon as you could, so he told me about it and I drove him here and now you know." Toshinori's voice faded as his eyes dropped to the center of the table. "It's my fault."

Inko's head snapped to look at the Symbol of Peace as he spoke solemnly. "Toshi, what are you talking about? How in the world could this be your fault? You don't encourage Izuku to hurt himself-"

"One of the first things I told the boy when I met him was that pro heroes are always risking their lives on the field of battle, but this isn't what I meant." Toshinori's hands came up and cupped his forehead. "This isn't at all what I had meant."

"That's not your fault!" Inko exclaimed. "Izuku adores you, All-Might! I don't think he would take your words like that!"

"He told me earlier that he thought all the training he had gone through, that I had put him through, was to make him me, but I don't want him to become me. I want to see him become better, and I have been. Izuku took my actions and tried to copy them, and I don't want him to do the same with my words if this is what becomes of it all. If all my time spent with the boy was just wasting his life away-"

"Toshi." All-Might finally rose his head to meet Inko's eyes, to find the same mixed look on her that he had given earlier. "Izuku would never think of your words like that, of his time with you like that. You've been a tremendous help and person to him all his life, and even more so ever since he met you. You're the Symbol of Peace. He could never think of your actions as something that was only taking away his life. He wouldn't think of it like that. Not for me, not for Eri, and certainly not for you."

Toshinori stared at her with a look on his face she couldn't quite place, and a voice broke out before either of the two could speak again.

"Mom? All-Might?" The two adults turned their heads to see Izuku, standing at the hallway entrance. "Eri and I heard shouting. Is everything alright?"

The hero and the mother were like deer in headlights, unmoving in their chairs as they looked at Izuku in shock as he had appeared without any noise prior for warning. Izuku moved his eyes from the adults to the papers skewed across the table, and Toshinori saw his expression change from one of concern to one of disappointment. And he knew Izuku was thinking what he had. "Oh…mom, I'm-"

Izuku didn't get to say anything more as his mother tackled him in a hug. The family of two stumbled as Izuku was thrown off balance and worked to get back to it. His arms were crushed to his side by her arms, his body was hunched over to meet her in the hug, and on his shoulder he could feel and hear his mother crying. He couldn't make out all of her words, but he could hear and understand enough to know she was apologizing; apologizing for him having to go through this whole mess; apologizing for not noticing anything sooner; apologizing for not doing enough to prevent it.

"Mom." Izuku tried getting her attention, but she continued to mumble her apologies against his shoulder. "Mom." He squirmed his arms to push hers higher up, just enough so he could hug her back and curl into the hug more. "Thank you." From that, Izuku could hear her words fade away slowly. "Thank you for everything you've done for me mom. This isn't your fault, I promise. You've done so much for me already, there isn't any more I could ask from you. Thank you."

Only one thing surprised Izuku more than his mom suddenly hugging him, and that was the hero in the room joining in on the hug, with one arm reaching behind Izuku and the other placed gently on his mother's shoulder.

"None of it is your fault either, Midoriya," he spoke, his eyes not meeting his student but instead looking beyond, over his head of green hair. "You've been an outstanding hero already. I don't want to hear you apologize for the lives you've saved, even when it had cost you your better health. You did what you could every time to save every life that mattered in the moment. I'm proud of you." His hand slid up Izuku's back to rest atop his head. "I'm sorry, that when we first met, when I told you that heroes are always risking their lives in the line of duty. This isn't what I had meant by those words. I am sorry that I had misled you with them."

Izuku shook his head, blinking away the small tears that had begun to form. "I never thought of your words like that. I focused more on the need of power than the risk of life when we first met, so I'm sorry about that. I just…haven't been thinking everything through like that. My mind has always been elsewhere at times when I need it." He took a breath through his nose, though it just sounded like a sniffle. "But I promise to focus on keeping my life. I promise to try harder to not hurt myself so much, and stay around for you. For you both. And for Eri." The hand on his head lowered again and pulled the body it was attached to closer into the hug.

Pressure on his lower back pushed Izuku slightly more into the hug, and he turned his head mostly and body somewhat to see Eri behind him, hugging him and pressing against his back. She looked up at him, one hand clutching his shirt and the other a sheet of paper in hand, pressed to his other side. Izuku smiled and let his mother go slowly as she picked herself up, allowing him to turn around and crouch down to the girl.

"Hey, Eri. Sorry for worrying you. Aunty and Uncle are alright, they were just talking and getting really surprised, is all." Eri threw her arms around Izuku's neck in a hug, and Izuku wrapped his arms around her.

"You're crying again, daddy." Eri's voice was soft, and Izuku could indeed feel tears trickling down his cheeks. He laughed softly, choking on air and hugging her tighter.

"They're happy tears, Eri. I'm happy, and I'm happy I have you." The fingers of one of his hands combed through her hair gently. "I love you Eri."

"I love you too." Izuku did sniffle, moving his arms lower on Eri so he could lift her up and stand up again.

"And I'm happy you do." Izuku took one of his hands back to wipe the tears off his face, and brushed his neck against the paper in her hands. "I see you brought it with you. Did you like the picture?"

"Mhm." Eri pulled away from Izuku's neck and brought her arm with the paper in front of him. "Thank you, daddy."

"It is not adorable?" Izuku looked out of the corner of his eyes to his mentor and his mom, the former of which was directing the question to the latter.

"It is." Izuku wondered what the two of them were talking about, but then remembered he never did tell his mom directly what Eri had been calling him and blushed slightly. It looked like All-Might had done that for him already.

"Hey, Eri. Can Aunty and Uncle see the picture you drew? I bet you they'll love it as much as I did." The young girl hummed for a moment, lowering her head onto his shoulder before nodding slightly.

"Okay." Izuku turned his head slightly and tapped his nose to her forehead before looking at the two adults.

"Eri and I did some drawings in my room. Want to see them? Eri did a really cute one."

"Oh, really? I'd love to see it!" Inko took her mood into a facelift and smiled, clapping her hands together and following her son to the room.

"I think I'd like to see it too," Toshinori spoke. "Eri does seem to do amazing things already, so I can only assume her drawings are the same."

Eri curled up against Izuku in embarrassment, but he could feel the smile against his shoulder. This was what he was fighting for. His mother and his idol behind him, supporting him, there to catch him if he fell and needed help. Eri, in his arms, smiling, happy with the world and opening up more to the people around her that loved her. This is what he intended to keep.

And Inko and All-Might agreed to stand by him in that fight.

* * *

 **Aaaaaaaand welcome to the poll. I know this may seem like a weird "fight" of choices, since they aren't really that opposing, but it's still something I'm curious to see what people want more of, in terms of interactions. I do feel the need to bring it up, and since this will be on a two month hiatus to let it sit and cool off and let the rewrites join in chapter numbers, I might as well ask it now, that I've given away so much that I teased in the first two chapters.**

 **Option 1 for this story: Being Eri and Izuku centric. I do plan on including more characters into the fray and letting others play big roles in the timeline this story will be covering, but the biggest relationship of them all will be the father/daughter connection these two have. Maybe that means chapters will be broken off into one-shots or few-shots, and there won't be a big, overarching plot dictating each chapter, just being there in the background every now and again. Everything I've introduced in these three chapters will be important, I assure you, but I might take more time skips between chapters than I do in my other stories, so do be warned. Still, thought, you will be getting a majority of Eri and Izuku bonding and family time.**

 **Option number 2: I actually give Izuku someone to be his love interest. Backstory time: this story is a combination of two, one of which is Izuku and Eri being a family, and the other which is Izuku coming to terms with his "suicidal" tendencies, and in the second one sprouts a love interest that helps him a lot in finding his true solid ground in the world. I'm not going to give away the person I have in mind to be with him, but I will say there are five strong contenders for me and me alone to choose from. This being an option separate from the first does mean I don't plan on making Midoriya's love life all that prominent in the story, and maybe not even at all. This path would mean I include it too, if that is what you would like to see. The outcome it would have on Eri and him should be for the best, but I don't know just yet.**

 **So there you go. Two options to choose from. The simplest of comments you need to leave is "Go with option 1/2." You can share your opinion or elaborate or whatever you want, too. I won't mind reading them. Just know that, whichever option I end up going with, I'm not going to state it at the start of chapter four. The option that has been decided will become apparent in due time through the writing.**

 **Thank you to all who follow and favorite and comment and just enjoy this story. I think I'll overstate how much I appreciate you all, but I don't mind. The more the merrier. Have a good day, and I'll see this story again in two months, so the journey can begin (and I can steal ideas from the manga as it develops more story.)**


	4. 1-4

**You thought I couldn't make the word count of this story even longer after only four chapters? Ha. At me. PhantosOfHorror**

 **Yeah, I decided to make a Twitter just like an hour or two ago because I've seen other people who write online have other sites for people to follow and chat with and stay up-to-date with, but I don't like Tumblr so I went with something more familiar. Follow it if you want. Don't if you don't. I plan on having it to update what I'm writing and how each chapter is going, and maybe artwork of my character and settings? I'm not good at drawing people, so I have that to work on first. Also I've done nothing with the account yet, but I'll make sure to get on that tomorrow when I have the time because I spent too much today working on this.**

 **Speaking of this chapter, I wanna kill myself. I knew I was making a long chapter when I made the note draft, but I scared myself when the rough draft started passing 30 pages. This in its computer format reached 38 pages. It took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, either because of this story or something else unrelated. 12,704 words on the document of this, and I have never typed that much on one document before. I'm proud of myself. Aside from posting this the week after it was scheduled, I'm still proud.**

 **I think I'm going to take the rest of the week off, instead of working on Warriors' next chapter. I have things I gotta do that I pushed to the side to work on this and that was a dumb fuckin' move. My b. I have the next chapter for each story mapped out, and I'll get back into the form starting next week, maybe Sunday. I'm taking a Sign Language class, and I gotta practice for our first test next week. Wish me luck, people who have any to spare.**

 **And since we are back on track, let's respond to a few comments I received, and I got a lot for the last chapter.**

 **Captain BrickBlades: I'm happy, knowing this story is helping you through that stuff. I've had to deal with some of it myself, and help some of my friends through them too. I do hope that, in some way, this story continues to help you. Thank you for sharing that. I wish you all the best luck I can.**

 **HotSoup2017: Yeah, that's kind of why I'm writing this story. That notice that Izuku was in a grey area concerning his body and his quirk is something that came to mind and I have translated it here. The fear of losing Eri is something that will play as part of the story, but I don't think it would have worked so soon in a story where this relationship isn't established beforehand.**

 **NeoKiMaChi: Character interactions are some of the hardest to write, because I have to physically act them out in the way I think their characters would. All actions and dialogue have to go through that process when I feel it demands that attention to detail. As for that balance of story, I think this style of chapters will be staying around for quite a while. The next one I have planned to look something similar to this.**

 **Lightningblade49: Now where would be the fun in that? I hold much against Katsuki, but I have plans. Many plans.**

 **Xperior: Eh, there is one in the depths of the internet that I have come across and I suggest not looking for it. Lucky it's the only one of its kind, but that doesn't make it any less scary.**

 **BunnyBugs97: Yeah, I can't bring myself to get rid of the adorable child. Blame me if you will, but also don't, please. I wish you luck as well, though I gave a lot of it just a moment ago.**

 **Red Baron15: There's not enough of it for me to find. I wish I had more to waste my life with and enjoy in my life. That would be great.**

 **And to those who didn't leave me much to respond to, but commented anyways with something, even if it was just their choice of the option: Necromancer Robert ShadowBlade, Alexis Andres Arenas, Brayan Mariachi, shadowprove97, Brokuyasu, LilTeddyUrsa, E-kingmoney18, Pyrokinetic52, Solo Starseeker, DarkPredaking, StrikeDragoon, Lolololololol, Dragontitan, Aya, Exiled Soul Nomad, AdamiEna, Fabulous as FCUK, brycel, New Fan, Luiz, Sergito, BloodCrescent1373, and Guest: Thank you all for reading and commenting. It's always a pleasure to see more directly those who follow this story, since I don't read off the list of followers and favorites.**

 **And to those who do follow and favorite this story, thank you for your support. I'm glad that this story has gotten you to enjoy it, and I hope you continue to stay interested.**

 **There will be a small note at the end, concerning something else, along with a small reminder. The options from last chapter, I'm happy to see the different responses to and about both, but I don't reveal which will take center stage for now.**

 **Until then, welcome back. Enjoy, read and review, favor and follow if you haven't already, and I hope you all do and feel fantastic.**

* * *

 **Sunday**

Katsuki Bakugou would never admit jack-shit to anyone.

Katsuki was a man, thought really he was a teen by age, of his pride. He knew what he could and couldn't do, but not once did he think that what he couldn't do made him weak. If he couldn't do it then, he would do it later, and day by day he would overcome each and every obstacle stacked against him. And he knew what there was for him to accomplish and overcome, what he himself had made his goals and what the rest of the world made for him.

Katsuki himself made the goal to become the number one hero in the world. All-Might held that title for years, and only recently was it passed down to the ex-number two hero, Endeavor. But it mattered naught to him who held that title before him, for he knew, one day, it would be his and there wasn't anyone in the world who could stop that from happening.

Katsuki set his goal to become the most powerful hero there was, and that was just as possible an accomplishment as becoming number one. His powers were given to him when he was four, and day after day his control and the power of his explosions only got better and stronger. And not only could he use them for raw power, but he knew how to push them beyond. Despite the look of a delinquent following him into his grade school, middle school, and first year of high school, he was far smarter than many of his peers. His brains and brawns helped him keep his position in the top of the class, if not on the boarder of. No one could be anything without knowing how to be it, and Katsuki kept that in mind when he moved forward.

It was the world that set the obstacle of knowing how to get by on more than just swinging about. It was a reality introduced when a sludge-formed villain tried to suffocate him. When his class at U-A trained in a hero-v-villain simulation in their first week of school. The world touched on it for a moment when he interned under Best Jeanist. And it slapped him in the face a second time when he took his two tests for his hero license. He had to give it his all and then some if he wanted to become a hero, and throwing a good punch was but a fraction of it all.

It was the world that made it clear Katsuki how important one's presentation of his/her personality to the public was. A hero is one who protects those who, when they need it most, need protecting. When those people need someone to look up to, to cheer, to idolize, to believe in, to listen to when he/she would tell them everything was alright. Katsuki knew his voice didn't match the description, nor was the way he handles his emotions. But he could protect, and instill some hope and security into those he protected, beating down villain after villain. Maybe not everyone felt what he did was best, but he knew he could only get better at it.

And Katsuki alone set the challenge of treating other people like people. In the list of challenges he had to face, it was the second hardest to best. He knew he treated people like shit. He went all the way into high school without ever making a real friend. Sure people followed him around, treated him better than most and all that. But not one of them was it friend, and he couldn't even recall their names; just cheap nicknames based off their quirks. Kirishima was probably the closet person there was in his life to a friend. He was the first to treat him as _lower_ than anyone else ever did, but at the same time looked to him as though he was a goddamned superstar of manliness or whatever the hell Shitty Hair was always on about.

And Katsuki knew he was a bully. He knew that not only did he treat people as less, he would throw people down with his own two hands to ingrain in their hands the difference between them and himself. Whether it be with his fists, his words, or even his quirk, Katsuki was brutal in his methods in proving his superiority. But at the same time Katsuki knew better than to take it too far.

"' _If you believe they're holding your quirk over in the next world, you should just dive off the rooftop'."_

 _Katsuki blinked, giving a near emotionless look to Mr. Chain as he spoke. The man in his suit tilted his head up, away from the papers in his lap and looked into the teen's red eyes. Katsuki stared back in silence for moments on end, until he threw a questioning look onto his face and let out an, "Eh?"_

 _Mr. Chain let out a sigh and patted the edge of his stack of papers. "You're familiar with these words, are you not, Mr. Bakugou?" the man questioned, using his own words to continue._

 _Katsuki looked to the man with a solid line of a mouth and on eyebrow raised. "Why the hell do you ask?" he responded._

 _Mr. Chain blinked once at the student before looking at his papers again. "I was assigned as the representative for your class to conduct these meetings. In the last two weeks before coming here, I've been going around interviewing past connections students had before coming to their hero schools. And just as Ejiro and Ashido went to school together and had people who knew them both, the same went for you and Midoriya." Katsuki kept his expression solid as Mr. Chain spoke, dawning a faint frown as the green-haired hero-in-training was mentioned. "When I went looking, I was directed to two of your friends from middle school. The first of them I met with had nothing to say but praises about your quirk and your grades in the class. Heard you stayed top of your peers for three years straight. Congrats. But it was your second friends that had more to say." Chain flipped deeper into his notes. "According to him, Midoriya was bullied in his class, being the only one around without a shown or formed quirk. Apparently a lot of it happened outside of school, but the one instance he had to note was one where Midoriya was told to commit suicide._

" _Now while I wasn't given a name," Chain continued, closing his notes, "your friends did admit that you were present when those words were spoken to Midoriya. Is that correct?" Chain brought his eyes again to Katsuki, and the student kept the gaze between him and the adult._

 _For a minute Katsuki sat in silence, playing that day out in his head. He remembered it; what brought those words on and everything that happened after it. If he remembered it for any other reason, it was his first day of being attacked by a villain and being in the presence of All-Might not even fifteen minutes apart from one another. But that line, that threat, stood out as its own day than a reason to remember one._

" _Yeah, I remember it," Katsuki admitted. Stuffing his hands in the pockets of his jacket. "Gave the guy shit for saying it."_

 _Mr. Chain raised both eyebrows at Katsuki's statement. "It is alright to explain about that day in a bit more detail, and the person who said it?"_

" _I didn't know him," Katsuki went on. "It was the first day I ever met the guy. Kept saying all this shit about wanting to be a hero and then he goes on and picks on Deku and tells him to kill himself. And then he still tried to give people the idea he could be a hero? Kid ate shit for thinking that was acceptable."_

 _Mr. Chain said nothing directly after Katsuki finished, drumming his fingers along the papers in his lap. He took another look through his notes, brushing past each page and leaving Katsuki silent in his own seat, slouched down without care._

" _So." Katsuki blinked to acknowledge he was listening. "You don't know the person who threatened Midoriya?"_

" _Never saw him a day after that. Fucker wasn't a part of our class, just some asshole going around trying to claim in superiority."_

 _Mr. Chain nodded, rubbing the papers between his fingertips. "You call Midoriya by his hero name?" he asked Katsuki, breaking off topic._

 _The hero-in-training gave a scoff to start his response. "I've been calling his that since before he claimed it as his hero name. It's where he got it from." Katsuki flicked his head up and chin with it. "He's got me to thank for it."_

 _The man gave a breath of a laugh and a small smile to the teen before him. "And, pardon me for not knowing this beforehand, but what does 'Deku' mean?"_

 _Katsuki kept his mouth shut at that, leaning his eyes back with the rest of his head to gaze at the ceiling above. His hands fiddled in his pockets and lips stayed pressed together as the word, the name, the title floated in his head before he turned back down to the Hero Association official to give him his answer:_

" _It means 'I can do it.' That's why he made it his hero name."_

 _Mr. Chain sat still across from Katsuki, his smile never shrinking or growing as Katsuki spoke, or when he finished speaking. Shortly after, though, it grew, and Mr. Chain let the weight of his smile pull his back in his seat._

" _You know," Chain spoke softly, "after I asked your middle school principal for the names of your friends, and then I asked for Midoriya's, the only name I was given was yours. I was told you were the only person he saw as a friend. I can see why."_

 _Katsuki sat in silence, giving no word, no look, and no action to the words Mr. Chain spoke. The official took in a breath of air in the silence and patted the notes on his lap. "Shall we move on?"_

Katsuki scoffed into his cup of milk, pouring another sip down his throat. He had decided on staying downstairs until A, curfew kicked in, or B, the 20th member of their class returned to the dorms after spending half the day home with his mother and legal-sister-turned-daughter. Whichever came first, though Katsuki was certain he'd still be down in the open area until the latter happened.

Katsuki acknowledged the six challenges placed in front of him. He knew how difficult it would be to outdo them all, to overcome each and every one, to prove his greatness. And he knew that the most challenging of them all was shitty-fuckin'-Deku.

Deku wasn't just his own challenge, he was _every_ challenge. The squirt was aiming to be the very best hero too, and he had both power and smarts to boot. And he'd shown how to use that power and turn it on its head, making it something more than just power, speed and maneuverability to be specific. And he knew how to treat others and present himself as a figure to make people smile and believe. And to top it all off, he was the one Katsuki could never stop bullying. He was, day in and day out, the one who faced the physical and verbal abuse Katsuki laid out on him every single day of his life.

But that didn't stop him; it couldn't stop Deku. It couldn't crush his dreams. It couldn't stop All-Might from choosing him as a successor. It couldn't stop him from applying to Yuei, or him getting accepted. It couldn't stop him from proving himself time and time again that he could outsmart Katsuki, if not in battle then in the long run. It couldn't stop him from taking notes from Katsuki to improve his use of his quirk. It couldn't stop him from risking his life to save others, Katsuki's included. And it couldn't stop Izuku from getting his hero license, the same day Katsuki didn't get his.

He hated the little shit. Katsuki would do everything in his power that he could to bring him down, and Deku, with all his might, would hold himself upright and strong through it all. All the fear, all the sorrow, all the hopelessness Bakugou put in Midoriya was spat out on the sidewalk and left to rot in the past. He was no longer the helpless, weak, crying bastard Katsuki remembered him to be. He had changed, he had grown, and useless Deku had become the hero, Deku.

So Katsuki watched from the kitchen counter as Deku came in the front door, a sleeping child in his arms. It didn't take long for the green-haired student to notice his classmate watching him from afar. He looked unsure at the blonde's presence, but said nothing as he turned away and headed through the room to the stairs, in an attempt to avoid his childhood friend.

"Oi, Deku." Katsuki didn't shout. His voice didn't raise an octave. It sounded normal, and not for Katsuki's standards. The explosion-quirk user took another sip of his milk as walked out of the kitchen and over to the still form of Izuku and child. The shorter student turned slowly as Katsuki stopped his approach in front of Deku. The two stood in silence and presence, one uneasy and the other unreadable. But that didn't stop the latter from talking.

"You're the only good challenge here." Izuku blinked in confusion at Katsuki's exclamation. "As much as I loath to say it, you're the only one of these fucks capable of proving yourself. Half-and-half has his dumb shit to sort out, Shitty Hair is as dumb as the bricks he's made of, and Round Face yells more than she needs to. These extras can't dream to be any sort of challenge to you or me." Katsuki brought up his free head to jab a finger into Midoriya's forehead. "Show me that head of yours still works and don't back out now, you got that shithead?"

Instead of Midoriya giving a response, it was the sound of a yawning Eri that followed Katsuki's speech. The young girl rubbed the sleep around her eyes as her head lifted itself from Izuku's shoulder. She gave her father figure a look in her tired state before turning more and noticing Katsuki in front of her daddy. She expectedly eeped and curled up against Izuku, away from Bakugou as much as she could.

"Hey Eri," Katsuki greeted softly. Eri curled her fingers around the frozen Izuku's shirt, letting out a small hum instead of words as a response. But Katsuki didn't pay it any mind. He understood enough not to fight it. Instead he moved his hand over from head to hand giving a slow and soft pat to the little girl's head. "Sleep tight."

Katsuki didn't wait from a response from the small family as he took his hand back and walking into the kitchen. He dropped his cup into the sink, stuffed his hands into his jacket, and made way past the two, up the stairs to the room for the night. "Don't stay up too late, Deku. We got classes tomorrow. I don't need you drooling over my shoulder."

Katsuki Bakugou would never admit jack-shit to anyone. But Deku wasn't just anyone. And nothing he said could ever amount to just jack-shit.

* * *

 **Monday**

Izuku Midoriya didn't have problems sleeping.

Yes, there were nights that took him longer than others to fall asleep. Yes, there were nights in the past where Izuku cried himself to sleep, be it because of the absent father, unsupportive mother, violent classmates, brutal Kacchan, or anything that made him feel like shit. And yes, there were nights he didn't sleep at all, when he pushed himself to do more and try harder and prove everyone and everything wrong about himself. Izuku just didn't see it as a problem to get sleep.

So it didn't surprise him in the least when he was still awake, lying on his back and staring at the ceiling above, just unsure of too much. Izuku didn't know how to feel as Monday turned into Tuesday, as his clock was only seven minutes away from doing. He didn't know how to feel about the people around him, and the arguments he had gotten in with them hours ago. Down was the most he could feel, but that wasn't even an emotion as far as he knew. Just too general. Other thoughts continued to plague his mind, and with them varying emotions that set his judgement haywire and his body aching.

He reentered his classes as nervous as he had been when he was in his other schools. That disappointment from others when he didn't have a quirk turned to disappointment from others that he wouldn't share his problems. Guilt ate away at his lungs as Uraraka and Iida and Asui and Todoroki stepped up to talk with him, and the latter two only begrudgingly accepted that he wasn't comfortable enough to talk about it with anyone just yet. The former two refused to back down as easily, pushing into him for something until he snapped at them and turned them a cold shoulder the rest of the day, along with basically everyone else around him. He wasn't happy with the way he acted, but he wasn't alright with the two digging where they shouldn't when it just wasn't the time.

Izuku didn't really know how unhappy he had been through the day until he came back to the dorms and to his room and was tackled by a short, giggle-happy girl and then a man who stood a foot above him. Mirio had kept to his promise on teaching Eri what a school would, and had spent the day with her introducing her to the subjects they would start with and playing some games that let her get a good understanding of what she would be learning when the next week started.

Watching her smile and bounce with joy at seeing her daddy and spending the day with her uncle cued Izuku in on how far his heart was dropping into his stomach.

The shuffling by his side rolled Izuku's head in its direction, away from the bland ceiling to the sleeping child against him. Eri had stolen Izuku's hand and arm (and by this point he was just use to it) for herself, finding them a perfect fit as a pillow and something to hold as she slept. He found it cute how she pushed his fingers into a curl, cupping her head in his palm for security. He couldn't think of anything that defined the word 'precious' better than she did.

But despite the smile she could put on his face, Izuku had plenty to worry about her. One of his biggest concerns was how hard it was for her to make friends. She wasn't really shy, per say, nor did she truly embody afraid, at least not anymore. Izuku thought 'nervous' best defined her attitude and actions towards others when trying to interact. She didn't know if she could trust people, new people especially, but she didn't give them the benefit of the doubt or just cry in their presence. She just did her best to avoid interaction altogether, keeping to Izuku and Mirio's arms instead. Yes, Uraraka, Tsuyu and Kirishima had all been present when the heroes raided the Yakuza's hideout, but Eri never got to meet them until they surrounded her with 16 other new faces. Not really the best first day.

But Izuku didn't push his luck, or her. He promised that he would let her take time in opening up to others instead of forcing her into the uncomfortable. She agreed to it, and to the small deal to be open at least somewhat comfortably to the rest of his class within the next six months. Living with 20 people was familiar to her, but their attitudes differed from those who use to be around her (save a few names). Bakugou still intimidated her, Tokoyami and Dark Shadow unintentionally triggered flashbacks none of them wanted her to think about, and Mineta unsettled everyone around him, but Eri promised to give them all a chance and open up to them, one day.

And since he had the time on his hands, he decided to watch what slept in his hands. He watched her nuzzle into his hand. Grip his arm for comfort. Breathe softly into the sheets. Shift deeper and deeper into the mattress and blankets. Whimper through her snores until they were more audible. Shook without being cold, and sweat without being hot. Cry and mutter for him.

Good feelings gone.

"Eri?" Izuku kept his voice low for the people sleeping in the rooms around them, but still loud enough so his words reached those that mattered. "Eri, wake up. It's me." The hand below her took her head gingerly and moved her closer to him, and the one that came above cupped the other side of her face, brushing along her cheek to wipe away the tears in her sleep. He didn't shake her awake, just held her, whispered to her, pushed his words into her ears so they could pull her out of the nightmare. "I'm right here Eri. Daddy's here." While not the easiest thing in the world for him to say, he still said it because he knew it needed to be said. " _Eri_."

She didn't scream, she didn't shout; she didn't make any big actions when she gasped awake. Her eyes snapped open, sending a shock through the rest of her body that began to calm her down and pace her breath. She didn't look at Izuku, but past him, curling in slightly as the reality she was witnessing shifted to the truth. Izuku curled in with her, bringing his legs up until her toes touched his knees, and his head closer to hers, slightly above hers. "Eri." His voice startled her, snapping her head up to look into his, eyes of pain coming across eyes of pain. Hers swelled up with tears quickly and flew back in a trail as she darted into Izuku's shirt.

The young hero curled his arms around her as she curled her fingers into his shirt. Izuku kept his body hunched in, nearly locking Eri in place so she couldn't leave, and he doubted she wanted to. "It's okay Eri," he spoke to her softly, above her hair for her to hear. "It was just a nightmare. None of it was real. You're here. You're safe with me. I promise." Eri said nothing in response. She lied still in Izuku's arm, par the flinching that came with each sniffle. His thumb brushed along her horn from the tip, following it down into her hair. "None of them can hurt you. They'll never hurt you again. I won't let them."

Her fears were another worry, and the nightmares they brought fell in that section. She had two types of nightmares: those from the past and those which she thought would be the future. It was the Eight Precepts of Death, holding her hostage, experiment with her, torturing her. Or they would return, kill those who tried to protect her, drag her back by the hair and start all over again. She had been appointed therapy, by the school itself, to help her with her fears, but Eri wasn't the most compliant with the situations laid out before her. She had fought, she had complained, she had vowed against talking with them. She had made it most difficult to treat her fears, at least professionally.

Since she did not comply to speak with others, Izuku tried dipping his foot in and talking with her. In actuality, Eri never spoke with him about them, her nightmares. She didn't want to say them out loud. Words only scared her more, at least her own. But Izuku could ask about them, simplify his question to a yes or no response, and let Eri answer with the nod or shake of her head. It is how he knew, at all, what plagued her mind, though it's not like there was much else which horrified her from experience. He could find out who it was frightening her going off the list of names he had remembered, what they were doing from what he could assume, and if it was something from the past or something she thought would happen. He couldn't get every detail right, but he could get what he needed to, to talk to her, to reassure her, to help fight her fears and let her know she was safe and in good hands and nothing in the world was going to hurt her ever again.

Safe to say it wasn't an everlasting effect. But it didn't stop him from trying again and again.

Izuku worked a finger into her hair, curling one of her white locks around it. "It was a nightmare, right?" he asked her quietly. He didn't expect her to say anything as her response, so the nod against his chest came as no surprise. "Of the past?" Izuku felt the opposite motion against him. "Of the future?"

Eri gave another nod, and Izuku breathed out his nose into her hair. If he had to choose his least favorite of the two nightmares, it was those created of her imagination. He didn't want her past driving her expectations of the future. He didn't want her to build on the horrors she escaped from. He wanted her to forget it all, to move past it all, to find happiness, and he knew it wasn't as easy as it sounded but he wanted it for her nonetheless.

Izuku cupped his hands on either side of her face, holding it gently as he could as he moved her off his chest. His thumbs worked slowly around her cheeks, wiping away the trails left behind and tilting her face up so he could see her and she him. His green eyes looked into her reds, and in them he tried to convey every emotion he could that he knew his words wouldn't get out as well.

"I know I've said it before," Izuku started, "but that day will never come. Chisaki will never find you again, never take you away again, never hurt you again. I won't allow that. I won't allow anyone to do that to you, and if anyone so much as tries it behind my back it will be the last thing they do." He kept his eyes trained on hers, not allowing himself to blink in the moment. "Everyone here, everyone around you, is going to protect you. The principal will protect you. The teachers will protect you. The students will protect you. All-Might will protect you. I will protect you."

Eri would blink and sniffle and raise one of her own hands to wipe away any fresh tears but she didn't turn away from Izuku as he spoke. Izuku shook slightly as he lowered himself closer to the girl and planted a kiss on the top of her head (being an introverted 15-year-old dad was hard). "You're safe now. You know why?" As Eri stared up to him, he smiled down to her, giving her the best smile he could manage in the night. "Because I am here."

The whole world was waiting for the day he would say that, but the world could wait longer to hear it come its way. There were others that needed it more.

The young hero kept his head above his daughter's, watching her snuggle into his arms and slowly but surely calm herself down. "Do you want your night light?" He could feel the nod of her head brushing against his bicep, so he complied. He stretched out his limbs, opened himself on the bed, save his arms under and lazily over Eri. He breathed softly once more and willed within in the power that had been passed down for generations, and with a few sparks of life, Full Cowl was activated.

Izuku knew danger. He faced it enough times to know just how bad something could be. But he never let that stop him from doing what was right; from being a hero. It couldn't stop him. That didn't mean he wasn't hesitant the first night Eri asked, begged him to activate his quirk while they were trying to sleep. The darkness didn't scare her, and when she didn't know if Izuku was beside her she would forget where she was and assume she had returned to the Yakuza. But she remembered from the raid, when Izuku would activate his quirk, and his body would glow with power. Said hero had entertained the girl in getting a night-light for the room, and he wouldn't mind it one bit, but she didn't want that. She didn't just want a light in her room, to be able to see Izuku asleep by her.

She wanted to know he was okay. She wanted to know he was alive and nearby and protecting her like he promised. She wanted to feel him and the power bouncing around inside him so she could know what was real. So Izuku did as he did best and gave in. But he couldn't just lie down like normal, because it was a strength based quirk, meaning one wrong more and he could hurt Eri and send the world spiraling under, and it only activated when he was awake, seeing as how he had never destroyed anything in his sleep. So he lied down, limbs out loose to the side and body calm and focused on keep his powers activated to the minimum. It never effected the amount of light he let off, but it did get Eri to believe and smile again.

Izuku Midoriya didn't have problems sleeping. Sometimes, a hero just has to work late.

* * *

 **Tuesday**

Izuku had no idea what Principal Nedzu was.

It was a running joke with the principal that apparently no one, not a single living soul (and if there was a dead one who knew, Izuku had morbid curiosity in finding out how they died), knew what Nedzu was, exactly. He could have been a bear or a mouse or a rat or a dog or a koala or a possum or literally anything else in the world, given the fact he was a lab specimen in the past. And that only contributed to the list stacked against the principal having a safe mentality.

Yet that did not deter Izuku from meeting with his principal. He was the first from the school to meet with Eri after she was released from the hospital and found herself under the Midoriya household. While his small demeanor and snappy aptitude startled and unsettled the young girl at the start, his tone and dialogue were more heartwarming and thoughtful than the short masked man Eri was comparing him to in her head. He was the one who planned most of Eri's conditions and settings, letting her stay under Izuku's watch on Yuei's campus since it was the safest place she could be until all that she came from faded into obscurity and they could promise her safe passage into the world around her. He had, along with many other figures, made an attempt to find Eri's past family, but there were no records they could find of the girl and her past. She was a mystery with only a name and a look and a quirk. He sided with the Midoriyas as the pushed to adopt Eri in the family, finding protective containment ineffective at keeping her healthy and reassured and that putting her with people she trusted would be better.

Nedzu had offered to accompany All-Might when she was left in their watchful care as Izuku attended classes. They never got her to open up completely, or even enough to talk sentences with the two gentlemen, but she trusted them enough not to run and hide and cry when they focused on her. She got to learn their names, share hers, and respond with a yes or a no with her head when they asked her questions. The two never brought anything to do with Chisaki or any other member of the Yakuza, to keep anything in her from triggering when it didn't need to. But with the work the two adults had to do, it soon proved difficult to watch over Eri at the same time. And that's when Mirio stepped up.

The third-year student was the only other person she showed to trust, even if it wasn't to the same level as Izuku. He had stopped by to meet with Nedzu concerning his leave from Yuei and plans to move him for future education and work, and Eri clung to him like a bear trap. She talked more when he spoke to her, and loosened her body from the stiff shoulders and hunched back before he was there, and overall was more comfortable with the blond boy. So when Izuku came to pick her up and reunited with Mirio, Nedzu suggested the idea to the two that Togata could watch over her during class time, until Mirio found a place to be and pursue a future. Under the pleading eyes of Eri and Izuku, Mirio caved and accepted the deal, and the principal gave him special passes to come back on campus and stay with Eri in Izuku's room, after the boys and young girl talked and decided she wanted to be at the dorms more than in an office.

But Izuku doubted any of that mattered as he walked into Nedzu's office at afternoon. The principal has called in in the day before, privately, wishing to speak with him over "a few things." It didn't take a Yaoyorozu to guess what that meant, but Izuku wasn't sure he was ready to be confronted about it just yet. He had already been avoiding Uraraka and Iida over the matter, as pushy as they two were, and nothing he said got the two to call quits before he did more than just say. He had gone over the thought of getting it over it, but he kept his mouth shut and pushed ahead until that day was ready. He had more pressing matters to deal with, and they were bring brought about by someone else.

"Izuku Midoriya. Please, take a seat." Izuku did as he was offered, sitting down on the couch across from where his principal was. Nedzu looked as he always did, dressed in his suit with a cup of tea in his hands and a smile across his face. Izuku's more nervous composure competed with Nedzu's calm one, nervous hands drumming along the teens knees standing out from the still paws holding cup and plate from across the table.

"Y-you wanted to t-talk to me, sir?" His teeth rattled as he spoke, betraying the boy as he tried to manage around some sureness of the situation he found himself in. He knew he had to stay, but he wanted to run. If his body had a mouth he could use, it would be screaming at him to run. But instead he had a mouth that refused to comply and accept the situation he was in. So he sat in silent wait as the principal to a sip of his drink before talking.

"Yes, I do. I hear Mirio is going to be homeschooling Eri while you're in your classes."

Izuku felt the ice in his bones melt away as the sentence reached his ears. "Huh?" was the only thing he could manage out as his brain continued to thaw free from its earlier condition, but it didn't seem to bother Nedzu, seeing as how he continued to talk.

"Toshinori told me he talked with you over the weekend and that you and our old student came to a consensus to teach Eri some school subjects before you could get her into a school, and that Mirio would be doing the most of the teaching as you were in class, with you offering your own help as the day ended. Am I correct?"

Izuku took a minute in his head to catch up to the principal and his words until he found himself on the same page. "Y-yes sir," he managed out through surprise and unease, perplexed as to where there talk was going.

"Good, good." The principal leaned forward and placed his cup and plate on the table between him and his student. "It is wonderful to hear you two are taking matters into your own hands to take care of the girl. I've been planning to speak with you about her education, and I have been already talking with your mother about sending her to a school, though it seems Eri still holds her trust and open nature to a select few and being surrounded by a bunch of new faces would probably worry her more than any of us would like. I'm happy to see you two settled for the next option, where she could gain knowledge and still be in a setting she wouldn't run from. It pleases me to see everything moving in the right direction."

Izuku bowed his head a bit too quickly, nearly colliding into his knees. "Thank you sir," he responded in his lighter body.

"Speaking of which, how is Eri doing with other people?" Izuku breathed through his nose as he came to terms with their conversation going in a direction he wasn't expecting.

"S-she's getting better," the student hero started. "She's not too shy in public anymore, now that she knows people aren't watching her intently. She's opening up more to mom and All-Might, which is nice to see. S-she's even let Kacchan come close enough to touch her without trying to avoid him and run away, and that's wonderful." Izuku tapped his fingers just above his knees. "And Mirio is getting her to know what we plan on teaching her, with some small practices to see what she already knows so we know where to start."

"I take it you two have already decided on the subject matters to teach her?"

Izuku nodded and looked up to his principal. "Yeah, we were planning on starting with math, history, and some language studies for now, maybe the next few weeks or months, and then bringing in the rest later."

"And that means quirk studies will come at a later date?"

Izuku nodded again, though he was unsure of it that time. "Eri's still not comfortable with her quirk and doesn't have the best control over it just yet, so we were planning on waiting until she feels more comfortable with using it, or the idea of."

Eri was, with her quirk, in a common predicament for most children with their own. The control she had over her Rewind was still loose, meaning her emotions could easily take over and activate and magnify her powers without her fully realizing it. If Eri was to ever be capable of controlling her quirk, she would have to balance her emotions more consciously, and that was probably most difficult for her to overcome over all the other children.

"That sounds reasonable enough," Nedzu agreed. "There are many children who are scared of their quirks in the earlier stages of life, when they're exposed only to the dangerous side of it for years and never catch a glimpse at the other uses they could make of them. To start teaching her about her quirk with the past still fresh in her memory and judgement, I would believe it to be best to wait until the time is right before getting her to practice with it. I'm proud to know you've come to the same conclusion." Nedzu hopped off his couch and made way to his desk. "Is Eri still having her nightmares?"

Though the last statement brought a blush to Izuku's cheeks, the question got a defeated nod as its answer. "She had one last night," Izuku admitted. "I don't know of who, I didn't ask. But I know it was something she's afraid will happen."

"Oh, those are dangerous nightmares indeed." How Nedzu had climbed on top of his desk before Izuku could notice was beyond him, but he put that question behind him for the conversation at hand. "The Yakuza we have arrested have been difficult to work with in getting all the information we need, and Chisaki has been attacked by the League and can no longer comply with anyone. And since then the League has kept their heads down, hiding from all watchful eyes. Maybe it is their inactivity and our uncertainty that unsettles young Eri and draws for her the fears she plays out in her head. Maybe our confidence is not strong enough to convince her against her troubles and reassure her everything will be fine." Izuku could feel his nails dig into the skin of his fists. To think that fault fell on him to fuel the nightmares that plagued Eri was torture. He would like anything in the world to do the complete opposite. "Can I trust you to lead the charge to change that?"

In a complete twist from earlier in their conversation, Izuku felt the fire in his stomach and chest cool as he looked to his principal in question. Nedzu had toned down his smile into something softer, gazing at the boy in his office. "Eri may hold trust towards many people, and there are many more who have vowed to protect her and watch over her and keep her safe, but there is no one closer to her than you are. If there was anyone who could convince her of her safety and assure her that the world would be okay, that it would not come to harm her, it's you. I know that by now you have already started to do such a thing, but I want to make sure you don't stop yet. I believe you are the only one capable of getting her to believe, to trust, to fight back her fears and move forward without them. You and your class have shown to help those around you do just that, and I have no doubt in my mind you can apply that work here too. So I ask you again: can I trust you to lead the charge to change that?"

Izuku sat in a mix of silence and disbelief at his principal's words, but the two stirred together and poured warmth into his heart, so when he did smile, he was forced to turn it up another 300 percent. "Yes, Sensei!" he all but exclaimed. "I promise to give it my all, and give Eri a home she can learn to grow up safe in."

"Wonderful!" Nedzu cheered at his student's passion, and the two fell into a comfortable silence following their declarations. That was, until Nedzu continued. "One last thing before you go, Midoriya."

"Sir?" Izuku let his smile slip down inch by inch into a question as Nedzu patted down the pile of files beside him.

"Being the principal of this school, most if not all information that circulates through this school comes to me. The Hero Association sending representatives come to the school to meet one-on-one with our first years is no exception." Izuku could hear his heart drop down a rib. "It is my job as principal to keep a watchful eye over my students, to assure their safety and happiness and education. I can't do that without knowing a few things, and I cannot say I am always happy to learn more." Nedzu looked down at the pile of documents and folders. "What's more, it seems 1-A this year has quite the rep, and there are several more I must speak with. Today, however, I need to speak with you."

Nedzu gave Midoriya a second of time to think before he carried on. "I, for one, agree with them that you are not suicidal. Not once since the day you took the entrance exam have I seen you at all push yourself into the life of fire without the intent of saving others, and then fighting to keep your own life in the process. However that does seem to play into their assumption that you may lack a will to live, that you are reckless, and that your own life plays second fiddle on the battlefield, which is also very concerning. I've seen you determined to push through everything placed in front of you, much more willing and ready than many of your classmates. You've faced more troubles during your first year here than any one of your peers have, most of the time because they come your way. But you do go looking for trouble yourself. You're a smart student, Midoriya, but you do seem to push aside many thoughts before you get going, and some thoughts that could benefit you in battle and through trouble don't seem to play through your mind." Nedzu hopped off his desk and stood in front of it, the Yuei logo plastered behind him.

"We're not proud of it, but the school has had cases of suicide in the past. Students have tried to use the entrance exam as a means of harming themselves, but the participants around them and the staff were able to intervene before they could be lost. I can see why they thought the same of you, Midoriya, and I am happy to see that you defied their expectations and pulled through to pass in the end, as your intention was. You've proven yourself different from those we've almost lost in the past, but that does not mean we feel anything less on the matter. I believe there is something else going on in your head, concerning all this, but I don't wish to make any wrong assumptions that could be more harmful than helpful to act upon. Instead, I would like to share something with you."

Izuku's knuckles had turned white from his emotions and anger, subdued within his heart and locked behind his lips. He knew of the past incidents. Yuei could make news off of anything. Every step they took was a story. Every accomplishment and mistake a headline. It hadn't occurred to him until Nedzu said it that, yeah, he did seem likely as another example when he took the test, a quirkless body throwing himself into the fray against robots with the intent to harm and fight the applicants. But Izuku didn't know if the will to live was something he was missing. He did want to, right? Right?

Izuku had no response to give, but it didn't seem like the principal was looking for one as he took a seat again, this time by the student's side.

"You don't have to speak if you do not want to, Midoriya. I won't ask you to. But I do want you to listen." Nedzu looked out past the window, to the campus beyond and the towns further. "You're a strong kid, Midoriya. Many people have come to recognize your talents and skills, and they have come to benefit and help and save many lives thanks to you. Your classmates care for you deeply, and I know you care for them too. Many of the teachers here know you well and have been surprised by what you have been able to accomplish. All-Might has been proud of you and cares about how you feel, and though he won't admit it, I know Aizawa feels the same." Nedzu pressed his hands together and placed them between his legs. "Your mother has been proud of your enrollment and your accomplishments, and we know she cares that you do good and feel good too. And now your family has a new member, one who trusts you more than the world itself, one who doesn't want to leave your side.

"You announced pretty loudly at the Sports Festival your dream; to make people smile, the way other heroes do, correct? Heroes do that, but not many aim to do their job for something as precious as that. It's admirable, and it is something all heroes should do. But being a hero is dangerous, and many find their lives in danger, along with many others around them, during dire situations." Nedzu turned his upper body to look at Midoriya, and the green haired hero turned his head to return the look with his watery eyes. "I believe you want to live Midoriya. I believe you want to stay. If you ever think, during the times when you're most down, that death in near, that you're worried for your own life or find yourself in a situation where someone aims to take life from you, think of those you care about and that care about you, and if you need a reason to fight make your reason be to see them again. Fight to find your way home, fight to see your friends again, fight to see your family again. And fight knowing we care."

Izuku had broken down earlier that week, on Monday in a corner of the school no one else was, after he had argued with Uraraka and Iida about spilling what was on his mind. And a day later, he was breaking down again, holding his head in his hands and running through his mind those words. He didn't know why, but it hit, and through his sobs Izuku felt both happy that it did and the paw patting him on the back. Nedzu stayed with Midoriya until he was done, until he had let out his tears of fear beyond what he realized and thanked the principal for the time they spent. He let Midoriya go after that, wishing him a good day to follow and Izuku responded with the same.

Midoriya went straight to the dorms after that, rushing past teachers and other students and he thought he saw a classmate or two as he ran into his class' dorm building and up the stairs to his room, and in there found Eri and Mirio playing together, waiting for him to arrive. Eri jumped to greet him with a hug, and Midoriya dropped to his knees to accept it, working his breathing to calm from the sobs and the exercise he was returning from and hugging Eri tight, whispering into her ear how happy he was to have her. Mirio joined in the hug soon after, cornering Midoriya as to what was wrong, but Izuku didn't explain it. Instead, he promised Mirio to talk about it again, and set the date on Saturday to let it out then, when he was ready. When he needed to hear something when they got what they wanted to hear.

Izuku had no idea what Principal Nedzu was. But if he had to guess, he would say he was, kind, caring, thoughtful, keen, and the best person-animal-whatever-he-wanted-to-be at his job.

* * *

 **Thursday**

Uraraka and Iida worried deeply over Izuku.

Their worries were justified. His quirk had been tearing the boy apart from day one, ripping off skin and muscle, spilling blood and bone, leaving scars and pain, and it took far too long until the two stopped seeing their friend in such a broken and miserable state. They assumed he had a second quirk for attracting trouble, something that only made life worse to witness. Both had seen his state after the fight with Bakugou at the start of the year. They had seen him only briefly lying in the dirt at the USJ. They watched him break his body five times over in his battle with Todoroki. They watched doctors and nurses carry him away when the League of Villains had captures Katsuki. And individually they saw more pain. Iida was by his side when Izuku tore scars into his hands, as he struggled with himself on the inside as Katsuki was right around the corner, surrounded by the League and All For One, as he tried to push away his tears from his failure to save a child from the clutches of a mad man when she had been right there in Izuku's arms, as he collapsed outside the doors of their dorm from shock and walked past Iida without a second thought. Uraraka saw him break his legs and arms in an effort to save her life during the entrance exam, and Tomura Shigaraki held him by the throat all ready and set to turn him to dust, as he pushed his limbs back into place when they fought at the lodge, as he withered in pain as Eri's quirk went haywire. Midoriya had given them more than enough reasons to fret over everything he did, and as he cried up the steps to his room just that Sunday.

They wanted what was best for him, because he deserved better than the best. It was in their best intentions to be there for their friend, to be by his side and listen to him when he needed to talk about his troubles. It wasn't their intent to get him to snap, to yell at them to back off and stop asking him about why he looked so down on Sunday and when he returned on Monday, and then make him storm off in an attitude not even Katsuki had shown to be capable of demonstrating. Izuku returned to the classes of the rest of the day and Tuesday as silent as he could be, answering with short responses to any question given his way, responded without looking or emotion when he was called on in class, and turning a cold shoulder to interactions from those around him. Uraraka and Iida knew it unsettled everyone in the class, even Bakugo, with how different Midoriya was acting, and they didn't know if they could push their luck to apologize if he wouldn't just brush them aside again.

They knew he lived a rough life, if the tidbits of information he let slip out about his struggles and his quirkless days were any indication, and they knew there was more that he had yet to share, with them and maybe anyone at all. The only other person who could possibly know was Bakugou, but he was no help in learning of what there was to know and what to do about Izuku's attitude. All they wanted to be was a friend to Izuku, and they couldn't help but feel they were failing at something so simple.

So it came as a surprise to them, and most likely the rest of the class, as Izuku showed up on Wednesday without an air of hostility around him, smiling again and conducting in conversation with Todoroki and Asui and Mineta and even Jirou (and then bringing Katsuki and his loud insults in when he unconsciously made a jab at the blond boy's attitude when comparing it to his actions the day prior) when they came to him before their classes could begin. It came as a surprise to watch him jump to answer in class, to involve himself and participate again with his wide eyes and his mutters and his faster-than-one's-hand-should-be-when-writing hand. And it came as a surprise to them when he pulled Uraraka and Iida aside during lunch to apologize to them, for the way he responded on Monday and treated them on Tuesday, and the two in turn apologized for their actions, for being inconsiderate and trying to push their friend into something he was clearly not ready for or comfortable with. And the three made up and promised to put that day behind them and go on being what they were before, what the three liked being.

And then it was the day after. It was lunch, the mess hall was filled with students and their food, and the trio of 1-A secluded themselves from the crowd to sit in a circle in their own company. They chatted softly, or really Uraraka did and Iida and Midoriya just responded shortly and kindly as she went on about a lot of gossip and hero news, and it was nice. Until Uraraka and Iida noticed how distant Midoriya's eyes were, how he was staring far away at the table inches in front of him, not even touching his food. It grew worry between them, and they made move to talk to him, but he beat them to it.

"Uraraka? Iida?" The two in question stopped their voices from calling out Izuku's name, but he didn't seem to notice, even as he looked up to the two. "I…Sorry. I wanted to bring this up yesterday, but I kinda forgot to, in the moment. My bad." Izuku scratched his chin and looked down between the two. "Is it alright if we talk about, ya know, _it_ …on Saturday? If you still want to?"

Uraraka and Iida widened their eyes as his question. While they didn't know what _it_ was, it seemed unlikely to reason out the idea of it being that which came to him on Sunday and that followed him into the school week. They had told Izuku he could hold it from them until the day he was ready, so they were surprised it somehow slipped his mind yesterday following that and that he came to a decision on telling them about it.

"Are you sure you want to, Deku?" Uraraka questioned, twiddling her fingers on her food. "We don't want you to have to share it if you feel forced to—"

"I want to," Izuku interrupted with a raise of his hand, though it and his eyes could show the two just how nervous he was. "You two deserve to know. I'm sorry that I've been acting so weird because of it, and I'm sorry I've been holding it back from you both all this time, but I feel ready to share it with you." He managed a wavy smile to the two and they responded with small smiles of their own. "B-besides, I kinda promised Mirio I would tell him about it on Saturday too, so might as well let you all know at once, ya know?"

The two nodded in sync. "If you're sure about it Midoriya, we'll listen," Iida told the shorter boy. "And Saturday will be fine with me."

"Me too," Uraraka jumped in. "Where and when should we meet up?"

"Um, would my room be okay, and sometime around noon?" Izuku suggested.

"Sure, but would Eri be okay with that?" Iida brought up?

Izuku chuckled out his nerves and scratched his neck. "I kinda already talked her into spending Saturday with mom at the mall. I thought it would be a good thing for Eri to spend more time with her, and though it took some convincing her, she agreed to do it."

The two agreed it was a smart idea. Their care for Izuku extended to his family, their worry shared with his mother, and together they linked Izuku and Eri into the worry and must-care-for box. She wasn't too open with either of them, and Uraraka had seen the state she was in before she was rushed to the hospital, but neither tried to push their luck with the girl and force them into being her friends.

For a moment, they began to worry if what Izuku wanted to share was about Eri, but if that was the case, they reasoned he would have been acting much worse than he had been the past few days. It was at least somewhat reassuring, though it was clear that there was a problem all the same, bothering Izuku when it shouldn't be. But they would be there for him.

"Saturday it is then," Iida decided, and Uraraka nodded her head in agreement. Izuku balanced his smile to the two across from him and darted his eyes up for a moment before breathing in with shock. His eyes dropped quickly from the clock and he forced food into his mouth until he started choking. Uraraka and Iida jumped to the aid of their friend, the former worrying and freaking out over him and the latter scolding him for his absurd idea to try and eat everything at once while they tried to get it out so he could breathe again.

Uraraka and Iida worried deeply over Izuku. He had no idea just how much they did, but he was grateful they did all the same.

* * *

 **Saturday**

Izuku didn't have friends.

There was never a friend who moved far away. No friend who went missing after a few years. No friends who got bullied because of him and then turned on them or disappeared or anything like that so they couldn't appear later in the story (don't question this). He never had a friend after Katsuki got his quirk. He was just…alone growing up, aside from having his mother, but even then…

Maybe that's why he tried so hard to get Eri to be open to being open with the rest of his class. He didn't want her to go through the same struggles he did.

And maybe that's why he so quickly accepted it when Eri called him 'daddy.'

Whatever his reasons for doing for her what he did, he just knew that he did things for her, and making sure she was comfortable and okay when she left with Inko for the mall was something he had to do. He made sure Eri knew that at any point, if she started to become worried and wanted or even demanded for Izuku, she could ask Inko to bring her right back here (and thinking about his mother by her first name and not 'mother' was weird, seeing as how she was legally his sibling so Inko was legally their mother, not just his). He himself was far from feeling comfortable on the inside but he kept his smile up for her until she left, and kept smiling until it hurt to.

And since she left, Izuku had been waiting at his desk, working on the homework he had for the weekend. Between each question his eyes darted to the drawer by his knees, and it wasn't until he was already five pages of work in that he caved and opened the drawer and took out the papers he got from Mr. Chain. While the Hero Association's concerns in document form were among the pile, that wasn't all he was given. They, too, had been thinking about Eri's education, and were a day behind in offering idea, though theirs were less open to the idea of home schooling.

Probably the most intriguing document had to do with his quirk. Not everyone in the world knew of One For All yet. Some knew it in the past, some had found it out for themselves. Eri still didn't know the truth about his quirk. So when he talked about his quirk, he never named it, just told them it was a quirk for strength enhancement. Everyone else had a name to their quirk, even Eri did, and it showed on the documents about her that he received. But Izuku didn't know why his quirk was given another name by the government. Either someone was trying to keep the truth hidden or even they didn't know the truth about it, so what they offered on Izuku's records were weird, to say the least.

 _Name: Midoriya, Izuku_

 _Quirk: Raw Power_

 _Description: The user draws energy from an unknown source of power and applies it in physical enhancement. It can be used for greater strength, faster speed, and mobility in the air._

They were half right with their description, Izuku gave them credit for that, though he had yet to get to grips with the latter two and even perfect the first. But it brought questions to Izuku's mind if the description was…lacking. Incomplete. Like there could be more he could do to fill it up. Maybe it was just the urge to change the name to the truth, but he couldn't do that, both in terms of capability and that fact he promised to keep it a secret. So what was it; that urge in his chest, and that nagging feeling in the back of his head?

Pushing that uncertainty aside, Izuku acknowledged the only piece of paper he had no expectations of, and that was of the phone number. Chain had given it to him at the end of their talk, and the surprise didn't kick in until he had confiscated in his mom the more worrying news. And now that it had his attention, Izuku wasn't sure what to do with it. Yeah, it would be rude to just ignore it, like he was never given it, but that would be rude to do to a fan.

Did All-Might ever call his fans?

A knocking on his door had Izuku jumping and darting his arms around to catch the papers and shove them back into the drawer before anyone else could see them. "It's unlocked," he called out, kicking the drawer closed and turning back to his homework to look as though he had never left it. The door opened slightly, and not even all the way before a head over a head over a head peeked in to look and get a snicker out of the green-haired hero. Izuku chuckled into his mouth as Uraraka, Iida and Mirio mimicked what he, Eri, and Mirio has done a while back as a small joke to get the little girl to laugh and get a laugh out of the classmates in the hallway, just so it stopped their conversation from getting any louder and scaring Eri as it was beginning to. That meant Izuku knew who was responsible for this. "H-hey guys," he struggled out in a laugh.

"See, I told you he would appreciate it," Mirio spoke to the two beneath him, pushing them into the room and following right behind. Uraraka nodded her head and smile in agreement, whereas Iida slouched down with his shoulders in less joy.

"I still don't understand how it was supposed to help us in becoming a hero," Iida admitted, looking down at the floor instead of up to the three around him. Iida leaned his back against the wall beside Izuku's desk, Uraraka hopped onto his bed to sit, and Mirio positioned himself by the door after closing it, leaving Izuku still at his desk chair.

"Heroes are supposed to make people smile, right?" Mirio turned a thumb in Midoriya's direction, who was indeed smiling. "And by doing what we just did, you were able to accomplish that."

Iida's head lifted slowly as he stayed silent until slapping his fist into his open palm, startling his two classmates beside him. "Of course! How could I have forgotten that so quickly?" His fist raised and opened to his chin, and the elbow slipped onto the palm below and he fell into a thinking phase Midoriya was famous for.

Uraraka had fallen on her back, stifling her giggles behind her hands at Iida's nature, and Izuku kept his smile over his hand and a hand over his chest watching the class president jump into his professional attitude. He looked beyond the engine heir to the retired hero, sharing with him another smile until the older boy looked around the room in slight confusion and disappointment. "Eri already left?"

Izuku nodded and dropped his hands into his lap. "Yeah, she left about an hour ago to the mall," Izuku explained. "I think Kacchan's mom went with them, so at least I know she'll be safe."

"Bakugou's mom?" Iida looked to his classmate. "I don't think we've met her. Is she where Katsuki gets his quirk from?"

Izuku chuckled and intertwined his fingers nervously. "Not…really. His quirk is a mixture of his parents, but he gets his… _fierce_ nature from his mom. If anyone tries anything, she'll stop them before they get anywhere."

"If by 'fierce nature' you mean his yelling an insults, then I think I understand." Uraraka picked herself back up to sit. "If so, then shouldn't we be worried that Eri might get scared from her acting like Bakugou?"

"I would, if she didn't do it differently than he did. Kacchan just yells at anyone, a lot, but his mom is more straight-to-the-point and confident to let her yelling just be open to everyone. I…have faith that she'll make Eri feel safe if that has to happen." Izuku gulped and coughed into his shoulder. "Also, I may or may not have bribed Eri with the promise of brownies if she went with mom to the mall, no matter when she returns, and I am not that good at baking."

Mirio chuckled and pointed a thumb at himself. "Don't worry, buddy. I can help you with that. Been practicing some cooking back home, so I got your back."

Uraraka nodded with vigor and clapped her hands together. "I'll help you too!" she announced. "I'd love to help make something for Eri." Iida, though silent, nodded as she spoke, showing his offer to do the same as the others. Izuku smiled to each and every one of them, giving them thanks for their offers, and the four stayed in a comfortable silence of smiles.

Mirio drummed his fingers along his arm, looking down for a moment before looking back to Midoriya. "So what is it you wanted to talk about?" he asked, and though the matter he was touching on was delicate, he meant his words with a sincerity and innocence Izuku could tell from the tone. That at least took a weight off his shoulders about breaking the news.

"It's about the Hero Association and their Heroes Personal Affairs Department, right?" Iida was the one that brought it up, and Izuku nodded, squeezing his hands together and looking down at his feet. Now was the time he promised to talk about it and he had to get it out. He swallowed down his nerves and some fresh air, arguing in his head how to share it before his voice could.

Uraraka held her hands together and leaned towards Izuku. "Is it about Eri?" she questioned softly, and she was relieved to see how fast he shook his head in response. Mirio and Iida let their own sighs of reliefs out, knowing the worst they could think of wasn't real. Izuku didn't pay them any attention as his mind settled on telling them like he was ripping off a Band-Aid and convinced his heart to do it.

Mirio smiled again as the fear he had begun to build in his chest evaporated immediately. "That's good. For a moment you almost—"

"The Hero Association thinks I want to die."

"—had me…wor…ried…" Mirio's smile dropped with each syllable, slowly catching up with the looks of horror and disbelief Uraraka and Iida wore as their responses. Izuku hadn't moved as he spoke, his head still ducked down in disappointment, probably even dropping further than it was moments ago.

"They thought I was suicidal," he continued, since no one would speak up. "They don't think I want to live." His voice sounded weak and wet and the three around him to see his head jerk up as he swallowed. "They think I'm trying to get myself…killed." Izuku dug his fingers into his skin. "And if I keep doing what I'm doing they'll expel me from school and put me under house arrest and therapy."

"W-why would they think that?" Uraraka managed to get out through her worry and horror, leaning closer to the one in the chair.

"Because…I keep throwing myself into danger. I keep getting hurt, I keep hurting myself, I keep worrying everyone and I don't stop and they think it's intentional." Izuku curled in on himself more, holding in the emotions that continued to bubble up inside.

"But's that's not your fault!" Iida exclaimed, taking a step forward in his announcement. "How could it be your fault that the villains attack you? Why should you be blamed for being put in danger?"

"Because they don't attack me." Iida leaned back up in bewilderment from Izuku's statement, and tone of fire behind them. "I threw myself into danger fighting Kacchan, knowing he wouldn't hold back against me. I jumped at the villains when they came to kill All-Might. I broke my arms and legs urging Todoroki to throw everything he had at me. I went _looking_ for Stain and you, I _stayed_ to fight Muscle and tear my body apart, I _agreed_ to go to the League of Villains, and I didn't _hesitate_ to face Chisaki and fight him with my own two hands when his could rip me apart in a second, and each time I just brought myself closer and closer to _death_." Izuku hissed out the last word, either because he hated it or he was afraid of it.

The three in his room watched Izuku as he broke down in a way they weren't familiar with seeing him in. "Deku," Uraraka choked out, "i-it's not true, what they're saying…is it?"

"I don't know!" Uraraka jumped back in shock with the two beside her as Izuku screamed his response. His head and swung up and his arms with it, and the three of them could see the trails of water down the sides of his face. "I…I don't know, and that…I can't handle that. I can't just stop being a hero, I can't just _try less_ , but I can't lose all this either. I can't just give up and lose my license and lose my hero name and costume or any of you! I don't want to leave you, or the rest of the class or Aizawa or All-Might…or my mom…or Eri…" Izuku's voice gaze in when he did and collapsed his face into his hands. His fingers curled on his forehead as his palms pressed against the tears pouring from his eyes. "I…I'm scared and I don't know what…what to do and I don't know if there is anything to do and I'm afraid I can't do anything and I'm just gonna lose it all and I don't…I don't…I can't…"

In his sobs Izuku could feel a body press down on him, followed by another, followed by another. He could feel the arms wrap around him and the hands hold onto him but he didn't look up and just accepted what he was given.

"It's okay Izuku." It was Uraraka's voice by his ear, and he could hear and feel the tears she was shedding with him. "Don't cry. We're here for you. We'll always be here for you. Please don't cry." He could feel arms tighten around him, ones he assumed to be hers. "We'll help you, okay? We'll get through this. You'll get through this. You have us." Her head buried into his shoulder and he couldn't tell if it was hers against his head in the pile of bodies but he hoped it was. "You don't have to go through this alone. We've got your back. Promise."

And he cried. He sat in the group hug and he cried and he sobbed out thanks after thanks to the three holding him up and supporting him and being there for him. He couldn't hear the person outside, listening in without a word of their own to add, but Izuku would have gladly accepted them in his room and in the hug.

Izuku didn't have friends. He was too clingy to treat those who got close to him as anything less than family.

* * *

 **My biggest problem with writing is that I always want to write more. I have a few other things I want to write but I know I don't have the time for two of them, currently. Here's a small explanation of them:**

 **1\. One-shot, Percy and Katie. Just a friendship chapter, but one that undoes a scene from the books that I've had in my head for quite some time. I've just never gotten around to writing it with everything else that has come up.**

 **2\. One-shot, Izuku/Toga. Honestly enough, it's one of my favorite pairings with the twists people take on it. I would like to make one myself, in an AU for the story, but I don't know where I want it to build up to and end. Just a few middle bits and the start.**

 **3\. Story, Pokemon. It's one I wanted to do, where I would use the games as a source to write a story of characters going through the regions, maybe of preexisting characters or some new faces. It would require a lot of me, though, I don't think I can do it where I am now.**

 **4\. Story, My Hero Academia. This one is a rewrite of the story from the start, with another twist as to how Izuku gets into Yuei, and I have something I've been pushing onto Izuku to make his character for the story. It would be a bit of a crossover, taking some ideas from another source, but it wouldn't be a real connection of the two universes, so I don't consider it a crossover, really.**

 **This comes with a question. Consider it a poll, though you don't have to choose just one. Would any of you like to see/write these? I could write the two one-shots. I could easily take a week off for each in my usual update schedule to write and upload them for those who want to read them. The stories, maybe after I put to rest some of the others I'm working on, they could come in and take their place in the schedule. The last one, thought, is something I was to see if people would like to use as a basis for their own take on the story. If anyone wants to do that, just comment it, and by next chapter I can come up with a summary of where the story starts and you can build on it from there, those of you who are looking for something to write to ease the pain and are open to the idea. Leave any comments you have on these and on the story in the comments, or do go to the Twitter handle PhantosOfHorrors and join me on a not-that-shitty-but-really-kind-of-funny platform to interact with me more directly.**

 **I hope all of you enjoyed this chapter and I can't wait to write the next. Goodnight.**


	5. 1-5

**A few things are running in my head right now as to what to put in this note section before I respond to comments, so imma just throw them out there randomly.**

 **Okay, so remember that Izuku/Toga thing I mentioned at the bottom of the last chapter? Well, I decided to right a rough outline of the one-shot I wanted to make between them. Then I realized just how much I would have to write. Then my notes took to the back of the paper. Then I had to cut between lines to make as general ranges for each part. Then I realized I made a 6 chapter + an epilogue short story of Izuku and Toga in love. I wanna die. But I also want to make it. Anyone still interested in that pairing and seeing a short story to it (and you can take 'short' lightly in regards to this franchise). If enough people are interested, I'll hop on making the first chapter sooner than later. Maybe get it out by next month instead of sometime in the summer.**

 **I know there was an Izuku/Mina or whatever it's titled week going on two weeks ago, so that's kind of why the last part of this chapter exists. Just as a little nod to that pairing celebration week. Also, a lot of people have her shorten his name to Midori for a time being. How many of them even bother to Google that and know Midori translates to green in English? Like how many people have analyzed the character names enough to know (Katsu)ki translates to win, which basically makes up his character? Food for thought.**

 **Ultra Necrozma has a nice theme. I've spent some of this past week, since it is my Spring Break, catching up in Ultra Sun and decided to listen back through the music to find that gem of a theme lying about in this game. Like, if they started playing that at Nintendo Direct, you bet your ass we would have those games on the Switch and no one in their right minds would complain with that presentation.**

 **Also, I'm like minimally depressed because Dragon Ball Super ends this month and I don't want that to happen but I also can't stop it and I'm curious to see what that movie is all about.**

 **And this itself is a side note, probably one everyone will forget because it barely even matters and might make little to no sense to everyone outside of me, but I have a few things in this story and that will be in my other stories that have some sort of reference to my other stories. There is a part in here that I put in here only because I was thinking about the MHA storyline rewrite fic in my head and decided to put in in here. I'm not gonna say what it is, and you don't even have to go looking for it if you don't want to. But speaking of that story, if people are still interested in that idea too, I could write up the first chapter, the intro to the world and story, and then let it sit for a while until I can move on and give it more attention. Might just wait for the manga to make more for me to use and craft into something new in the fanfiction.**

 **And that is about it. Now onto the comments.**

 **Xperior: You wanna know how bad that story is? Really? Well then you asked for it. If you've been looking up Izuku and Eri, that's your first mistake. The real one in labeled under Izuku/Eri. Enjoy your hell.**

 **Lightningblade49: It was intentional that I had both characters be evasive in covering that answer as to who said it to Izuku.**

 **Sergito: Yeah, it's basically the same character interacting with his/her-self. It's weird when I think about it but almost godly appropriate that it is the case.**

 **Malone23: I don't know if I want to put Eri into the rest of the school. I do plan on one day having a part or even just a whole chapter or two from her third person perspective, but just how the situation is might not be something like that.**

 **Someguy the anon: I think the old art of Izuku in his hero uniform had to do with his lean figure more than his attitude. He does start off pretty thin at the start, so maybe it was meant to go with that body type more than a buffer one.**

 **EmInArEvOl: Fret not. I plan on having more with Aizawa in the future. Need to get to those scenes though. I didn't want them to be the ones to bring it up, since they have already brought to Izuku their own voices of concern to his attitude, and this jump of an assumption almost feels like too much for where they are. So I decided on giving it to a third party whose voice hasn't been all that heard and that I could easily play around with to fit in this story.**

 **Other than that, I've got nothing to say. I'll just wait to hear back from this chapter and see what people think. Enjoy your read and do review if you have anything you want to say or ask or comment on. Thank you, and have a good midnight update from where I live on this planet. Peace.**

* * *

 **Sunday**

A full week. Izuku survived a full week extra to the first since the news of his possible demise and the director of his misery.

Mirio really was the bluntest with Izuku regarding the situation and his overdramatic definition of it all, more so than All-Might or Aizawa were, even with the latter holding back on sugarcoating his own thoughts on everyone else's. Being thought of as suicidal wasn't the be-all, end-all of his hero career, because he knew the truth was that he wasn't. But it did go to hammer in what faults the teen had that other people saw in him: rash, abrasive, broke willingly, and saw the world through the narrow and ignorant lens of 'SAVE, SAVE, SAVE' to mirror Katsuki's view of 'WIN, WIN, WIN.' There was more to a hero than the one word, much more that the two boys still had to meet to be not just heroic, but a hero.

Izuku pondered if Stain would agree with that sentiment.

But Izuku didn't argue with the concerns voiced by his friends or his teachers or his mentor or his mothers (the Bakugou was more extended family than anything else). He appreciated them for saying what they did. The talks they had the weekend before as the mothers returned from the mall with the young Eri in tow, and when they were waiting for them to arrive with the little girl, were ones Izuku believed he needed to hear after he did. And from then on Izuku's week went.

Uraraka and Iida may have been excessive with their attention of the green-haired hero, but he didn't fight the attention. He welcomed the praise and good intent they gave him with a blush and a smile, and in return gave them the praise and appreciation they deserved for the heroes and people they were becoming. It was a sense of joy in his heart he wasn't too familiar with seeing and having, but it was one he let stay and grow.

Togata was almost the same case since the last weekend of admittance, with the older boy filling a role more as a mentor than a fellow student, though he know how to play that too. The blond shared what hours he could by Izuku and Eri's side during the week days before he was called home, and whilst some talk drifted into the topic that hung over their heads the boys managed to keep most conversation on Eri and her studies (and the drawing she did of her family that Mirio found and, jokingly but with some sincerity, demanded framed). The young girl was getting a good start and introduction to the studies planned for her, and she did show interest and joy thanks to the attitude Mirio acted with as her teacher.

The calming sense Izuku's friends gave him felt sorely needed.

And then on came another weekend, one where Izuku found himself sitting across from Eri, with nothing but the open space of his floor and cards set about orderly in a game the teen remembered playing with dominos when he was younger. Izuku didn't know how much longer he would be staying at the on-campus dorms during his time at Yuei. He enjoyed the time he had with his classmates, and the interactions and days spent with them were very helpful to his attitude, and was an experience he wished he had when he was a kid with Katsuki around. But he wanted Eri to have more space to move, especially if she was hesitant to be around most of her other classmates. Soon, Izuku would put up for debate when he should move back home, if he should and Eri was okay with it. But that day could wait a while longer.

Izuku placed down another card, lining up its symbol with that of another and looking across the room to the white-haired child. "It's your turn, Eri," he told her, and the little girl looked up and nodded before darting her head back into her cards. Izuku smiled at the sight of Eri, sitting with her knees up to her chest, hands resting right above them, with her cards spread across like a poker players, and only leaving her hairline and stub of a horn visible for Izuku to look at. Eri sneaked a peek back over her cards to Izuku, and blushed away behind them again as she saw him watching.

It reminded Izuku of himself, and he laughed awkwardly in his chest at the thought. She was as shy as he had been, if not rightfully more so, just as interested and hyperactive as he was in their interests, and as big of a fan of him as he was of All-Might.

The teen hero turned on his neck, looking at his desk, and at the drawer closest to the floor. Now that he remembered, Izuku did have a fan. One that wasn't Eri. One that the Hero Association gave him the contact information of, so when he found the time, he could give them a call. One that he didn't know if he could believe at first, be it a prank or a trick to get him to talk, but since it came directly from the organization overlooking hero activity, he didn't believe it to be likely as either of those options. He could only hope he was right.

Reaching over, Izuku took hold of the drawer handle and pulled it open to reveal the stack of papers topped with the blue slip. He took it away and held it in one hand as his cards folded into the other, and stared at the number and words associated with it in silence. Izuku had half a mind to call them in the past week, but the time to do so eluded him, populated instead by friends and family and school and training and sleep. And atop those were the worries he had, aside from the falsehood of the number itself. Firstly, this fan of his was a girl…Secondly, as far as Izuku could decipher from Mic-sensei's classes, this fan was that of English decent and name, with it written down on the paper in English, and as Mr. Chain told him, living in America, the country his birth-father worked in. Izuku wasn't really confident they could communicate all that well without a translator in the middle (his English still needed work before he could hold a proper conversation with someone born learning the language). And thirdly, Izuku didn't know how to interact with fans. He's never gotten many chances just to talk with and get to know heroes he fanboys over, and the only time he did was when he was told he couldn't be a hero without a quirk. And while people, just random people who have seen him before like at the Sports Festival, have given him compliments before, no one ever interacted with him like a fan he was familiar with. Without that familiarity and idea of what to do so he isn't stuttering over each and every word, Izuku wasn't sure he was prepared to act—

Izuku's attention was cut away from his thoughts to the real world as a bundle of white dressed in blue snaked into his lap and peered from his lap to the paper in his hands. The upper half of his body jolted in surprise as Eri took seat between his legs, staring with intrigue at the paper in his hands. Izuku blushed and breathed his calm demeanor back to full, easing back into the proximity Eri liked to be in with her father role: safe in his bubble of space.

From what Uncle Mirio had started to introduce to her in her studies and Daddy Izuku had helped her go over to understand it better, she at least knew well enough that the words written on the paper were in English, though she still couldn't read it or pronounce all the letters the way they had to be in the situations and circumstances they're used in (English: American dialect is my first language and even I know it's a hard-to-comprehend language. This is why sign language is better). The young girl leaned her head back and looked up to the teen hero. "Daddy, what does it say?" she asked him.

"Uh…" Izuku laughed in an awkward tone as Eri's head pressed into his stomach and he tried to reassure on the pronunciation of the name. "Apparently, I have a fan living in America." Eri gasped at the news as though it was the most amazing thing in the world, which it probably was to her knowing the hero who saved her had more people who knew how awesome of a hero he was, while Izuku looked back at the slip of paper with a squint. "And I believe her name is… _Amalia Parks_."

Eri looked to him with a blank stare, mumbling to herself as she tried to match the syllables in the order he said them and the way he spoke them. "Amaylia Perks?"

Izuku laughed in good nature and placed his cards on the ground to give Eri a pat on the head not dug into his shirt. "I'm not too sure myself, but that's close enough to her name. But, apparently, she's a fan of mine, and I've never met her." Eri leaned her head back up, letting Izuku rest his hand atop her hair. "I—I think I should call them, just…just to see why they wanted to talk to me." The green teen looked down to the girl still reading the name off the card. "Would you be alright if I did that?"

Two red eyes leaned back and looked up to the green of her father figure's. "Right now?"

Izuku nodded slowly. "We can keep playing if you want to, we don't have to stop. I've just been putting this off for a while now…thought it was about time I give them a call. I think I owe it to them, since they went out of their way to get it sent to me."

Eri hummed and leaned back into Izuku's stomach, eliciting a nervous chuckle from the older boy. "Okay," she said with a smile, throwing off the small one Izuku had.

"Really? You're alright with me doing it right now?"

"Uh-huh." The long haired girl nodded in vigor. "Uncle Mirio says all heroes have fans, and that…um…" Eri folded in Izuku's lap, trying to run the words through her head and remember what Togata told her. "And heroes should return the kindness."

Izuku stared blankly at his not-adopted-into-the-role-but-took-it-anyways daughter and the smile she was giving him before mirroring with a soft grin of his own. "Yeah, heroes should do that, shouldn't they?" Izuku could at least assume that much about a hero and their fans. He looked down at the slip with the name and number before grabbing his phone and typing away. "Guess I should, then." Nerves still bit at Izuku, for making calls was never easily his thing. The furthest call he was ever in was with his birth father in America, and that was years ago with his mother dictating the call. He hoped he didn't mess this up. "Still, I'm surprised I have a fan who wants to talk to me so bad they send their number to the Hero Association."

"But daddyyyyy!" Izuku looked back down as his fingers finished typing, locking his eyes back onto hers. "You're such a cool hero! All heroes have fans!"

Izuku chuckled through his blush and set the paper down to wrap an arm around Eri in a hug. "Yeah, they do. Thanks Eri." He lifted the phone to his ear and listened to it ring as he hugged Eri. "Did you place a card down already?" The little girl nodded her answer. "Guess it's my turn then." Izuku took his arm back and picked his pile of cards back up, fanning them out in his hand to look through them and check the assortment of cards lying about the floor.

The line by his ear clicked, and something on the other end shuffled before a voice came across. " _Hello, this is the Parks residence_."

Izuku gulped a bit at the different language and sorted through his head what Present Mic had taught his class on the English language, pushing aside the voice being male instead of female. It was probably just someone else in the family if their last name was the same. " _H-hello sir_ ," he greeted in return.

"… _Hello._ " The man on the other responded slowly as Izuku took a card from his hand and set it down in the pool of cards before him and Eri. " _May I ask who is calling_?"

Izuku blinked and stumbled over his words. " _I-Izuku Midoriya…sir._ "

" _And, may I ask, why are you calling at six in the afternoon?_ "

" _I—um—I'm calling for…Amalia Parks?_ "

" _And what, pray tell, do you want to speak to my daughter for?_ " Izuku gulped again as the man's tone changed. He couldn't understand everything being told to him, but he could get enough from it to know the voice belonged to the father of his supposed fan.

" _Ah…I'm…the hero, Deku, sir_."

"… _Oh, you are?_ " The man's tone shifted, losing from it the edge it held for a few seconds. " _You're…actually the hero, Deku? From Japan?_ "

" _Yes, sir…The Hero Association gave me this number…Mr. Chain?_ "

" _Hagane? Oh thank heavens he managed to get it to you. He never got back to me if he got it in the mail or not. I was worried it wouldn't get to you._ "

"That's how they got the number then…" Izuku muttered to himself, letting his arm fall around Eri again as she slipped down into his lap.

" _Guess that explains your accent, then,_ " the man on the phone continued before clearing his throat. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Deku."

"You…" Izuku looked ahead in shock. "You know Japanese?"

"Not too much. My apologies." The man chuckled back into English. " _I've only learned a little from my daughter. She's been studying it for the last year, and I've managed to pick up a few things from her—speaking of which, that's why you're calling, isn't it? She's been wanting to meet or talk to you eventually._ "

Izuku groaned in his throat as he tried to keep up with the language. "Y-yeah, is she there?"

" _Yes, she's here. She'll be delighted to know you called. I'll get the phone to her right away._ "

"Thank you." Izuku looked down to Eri as she rolled over to face her body to his and looked up at the older boy. "My turn?" She nodded and returned to her position lying against him in comfort and content.

"Why are you talking like that?" she asked him as he sorted through his cards for one to play.

"You mean speaking English?" The small girl nodded. "It's what they're speaking. I'm doing it too so I can talk with them and know what they say, and vice versa."

"What does vice versa mean?"

"Um…in this, it means 'so they can understand what I say too,' and our talk isn't one sided." Eri nodded slowly and wrapped her arms into his shirt to get him to smile and chuckle.

"But you just said he knew Japanese…"

"He only knew some. Not as much as we do." She nodded again and Izuku used his open hand to run a hand down her hair in comfort. The phone by his ear shuffled audio from the other end, two voices further from the mic of the phone. A shuffling came through again, and Izuku sat still as he waited in silence for someone to speak up. But when nothing came after several seconds, he took it to speak up. " _H-hello?_ "

" _Hello,_ " came the quick reply of a female's voice on the other end. " _Are…are you really the hero Deku?_ " Her words came out pretty quickly, almost too quick for Izuku but he caught on well enough.

" _Yes, I am._ " He heard what he assumed was a gasp before the girl's voice grew quiet. She must have been talking to herself before her voice popped back to life through the phone.

" _Oh, wow, you actually called. Ohmygod. This is amazing. I'm actually on the phone with a hero. Ohhhhh my god. I can't believe it. It's finally happening._ "

Izuku felt dizzy trying to keep up with her words. He understood only about half of it, losing other pieces to time and sitting there in slight surprise. " _Um, are…you alright?_ " As far as Izuku was certain, she wasn't breathing, just talking, and knowing how his mumble sessions went forgetting to breathe wasn't out of the question.

" _Oh, sorry, sorry._ " The girl giggles her nerves through the phone. " _Um…_ hello, Deku, sir. My name is Amalia Parks. It's nice to meet you."

" _Ow wow…._ you do speak Japanese?"

Amalia laughed softly again. "Yeah. I'm sorry about that. This is my first time talking to a hero so directly." The girl cleared her throat away from the phone. "It's an honor to talk to you. Sorry if I seem a bit crazy."

"It's fine, it's fine," Izuku assured her with a nervous giggle of his own. "This is a first for me, as well. I've never gotten something like this before, so…"

"Really?" The American girl sounded as surprised as her words were. "But…I assumed with the Sports Festival, you would have been on a lot of people's radar. I've seen your name pop up in the news with Stain, the League of Villains, and that yakuza group since then. There's bound to be more people who have been following you in the news."

"You…you saw the Sports Festival?"

"Of course I did! The school scheduling here is different from Japan's isn't it? We didn't have anything big going on here at the same time as you guys, so I was able to watch it all. It's so cool how you didn't use your quirk until those last fights! And you totally should have won that too! Destroying all that ice just by punching _at_ it was awesome!"

"Oh, uh…thank you." Izuku rubbed the back of his head and watched Eri take control of his and her cards and work on sorting them around the floor. "But you know my name from the Festival, then? You don't have to call me Deku."

"Well…yeah, I know it from the broadcast, but not a lot of heroes go by their names for their hero names. And since you _are_ a hero, I should just call you by that name. It's more appropriate, aside from my friend here who's thinking of calling himself Red. It's not an impressive hero name."

"Oh, you're friend wants to become a hero?"

"Yeah…he's in college right now studying in heroics. Uh… _sorry, I don't know this in Japanese yet. He gets to try for his license next year, but he's already chosen his name and it's just a color. I don't know why he chose something so bland_."

" _I don't know…one—I knew someone who wanted to go by the name of Pinky as their hero name_." For the sake of not calling out of his classmates and their choice of a hero name (in which he didn't realistically have much room to speak in), Izuku decided against mentioning Mina's name.

"Really?"

" _Yeah_ …Her first option got shut down, so she decided to take the opposite route of the first and think of something that was more…cheery and light. Kinda like how she acts in general. It's not too bad a choice, really."

"Oh… _I don't think his is like that, though…aside from it being his favorite color and his quirk's color, he hasn't really said anything else as to why he chose it_."

" _Does he have a slogan to go with it? Some of my classmates made one to go with their names._ " And one of their names was just a slogan, so really Red wasn't the worst choice in the world.

"Oh, um….I'm sorry, I can't remember it. He hasn't talked about that in a while…"

"No, it's fine. It's just…that might help with understanding why he chose it." Izuku wanted to ask about the guy's quirk, but didn't, and he wanted to talk about his own hero name, but he didn't. Both topics felt a bit too like digging deeper than he should, even if there was something from them both he could take to try and defend his choice in a hero name. Instead, he moved the conversation elsewhere. "So…how do you know Japanese, if you don't mind me asking?"

In all honesty, Izuku felt weird jumping back and forth between the two languages, but neither had stumbled over what the other was on about, so at least it wasn't a mess of a talk.

" _Oh, right, uh…_ " A more muffed chuckle came from her end, and it sounded embarrassed the way Izuku knew he could laugh. "I'm…going to study abroad in Japan, actually. I finished high school a few months ago, and I was learning it in my last year, but I'm still trying to work up enough money for the trip, so I'm still home working it all."

"Wait, you're going to come here?" Izuku straightened up in his spot, and then nearly tumbled back and Eri fell back into his lap from the card map on the floor.

"Yeah, but I probably won't go for a while longer… Your next school year starts a few months after the New Year, right? I'm hoping by then I can come to study. Sorry if I don't pronounce everything correctly, or if I've made a few mistakes already…"

"It's alright. I'm the same with English right now." Izuku laughed in a nervous tone at the admittance, but he still smiled and used his free hand to play with Eri's as they took hold of it. "…I'm sorry. I don't know what else to talk about. I just…thought I should call since you went out of your way and all to give me your number—your dad's number—home phone number, I don't know which it is, really, but I didn't want to be rude and just not call, but I didn't know what to talk about and—"

"Thank you." The girl on the phone cut through his ranting. "For calling. I—" She laughed a nervous laugh. "—I don't really know what to talk about either; I just wanted to say hello, I guess. I just think you're a cool hero, so I wanted to call…so thank you, for this."

"Oh—I—Uh…You're welcome." The successor blushed in his smiled and looked down to Eri who looked up to him with a smile just because he had one. "And—uh—thanks. This is the first time someone's done something like this…I hope your trip here goes well."

"Thank you. And, um…if you're okay with it…when I come to Japan, would it be alright to meet you? In person?"

"In per—you want to…" The green haired teen cut himself off with a coughing fit that worried the girl in his lap. He turned away to catch his throat and calmed down himself and the girl worrying over him, still being quite though he knew not why. "S-sorry about that…when you come to Japan, I wouldn't…mind meeting you. I'd be honored to."

"You would—are you kidding? It would be an honor to meet you…Thank you. I shouldn't be leaving for a while longer, so…maybe we call again to schedule a day to meet? Before I fly over, maybe?"

"O-okay." Izuku raised his hand above Eri and ran it through her hair. "Do you…plan to come before the new school year then?"

"Yeah, I should. Maybe I'll catch you before your graduation, who knows?" Amalia giggled on her end, and Izuku met it with a smile she couldn't see. "Thank you, again, for this. It's so cool that I got to talk to you." A blush was added atop his smile that he was lucky she couldn't see. "Guess I'll hear from you again, maybe?"

"Y-yeah. Guess we'll talk again. Thank you as well. Good luck with everything."

"Thanks. And you too…bye."

"Goodbye." Izuku kept his phone by his ear as the line went dead and he stared forward across his room. It was…a new experience for Deku, being called out as a hero by someone who thinks of him the way he would think of most other heroes before him. He was half tempted to pinch his arm to check if he was dreaming or not, but the little girl shaking his shirt down from his lap was enough to set his mind straight. The hero chuckled nervously and wrapped his arm around Eri to lock her in a hug. "Sorry that took so long, Eri. And that I kinda lost sight of the game. I didn't mean for that to happen."

"It's okay," she responded, cuddled up against the stomach of his shirt. "You're smiling." She was right, he was smiling, and not one that was meant to cover anything up. Just a real one.

"Yeah, I guess…I'm happy I have a fan." Izuku took his other arm around Eri and hoisted her a bit higher into the hug. "And I have you. No reason I shouldn't be smiling."

Eri dived her head into the shoulder by his left, hiding away the blush he was sure was growing on him too. He could hear her groan against his shirt to not be too affectionate, similar to a way he remembered acting with his mom when she showered him with moments of affection. Izuku thought it was cute, but opted to keep that comment in his heart instead of making her curl away from it more. "So you finished all the cards?" He could feel her head nod against him. "Good job. Looks a bit like a flower, doesn't it?"

She took it slowly, but Eri did turn around in his hold to look at the assortment of playing cards lying about and connected in a flower-esque design. She nodded her agreement with him, and he smiled at the side of her head. "Wanna do that? Make some shapes with the cards while we wait for lunch?" She turned back to look up and him and his smile, and he widened his and helped her forward to take apart the pile and rearrange them together.

* * *

 **Wednesday**

Izuku wasn't too sure of what to expect out of the last few weeks of the term before the winter break rolled around, but a rehash of the Quirk Apprehension test from the start of the year seemed reasonable enough to the teen hero. He changed as quickly as he could into his gym uniform and followed the rest of his class out to the open space they tested last time. Even with the winter season upon them, the land was still dry enough of snow to allow them to practice.

But Izuku didn't really care about the snow (not yet, anyways; apparently Eri never properly experienced the winter snow and Izuku was prepared to change that when the time came about them to get her out there). And surprisingly enough to himself he wasn't all too interested as to where he would place after his tests. What he did care about was his quirk, what One for All could do now that he had control over it enough to not break himself with each and every use. What he cared about what figuring out what his quirk was.

It was a question that bothered Izuku since the Hero Association had named his 'regular strength enhancement quirk' as 'Raw Power.' Izuku already knew quite a few people were in on the secret of his quirk, the quirk All-Might had wielded before him, so it came to a surprise to both users when the Association gave it another name. Toshinori had decided that they go along with the cover-up of the quirk, whether it was a move intentional or not on H.A.'s part. But that wasn't what caught Izuku's eye; it was that description they made of his quirk to go with the new name, as every quirk looked to have. And while it wasn't far from what Izuku knew of the quirk, it was off enough to get Izuku thinking about what he _didn't_ know of the quirk. What hadn't been shared with him by his mentor.

 _What about One for All am I missing?_

With the time on his hands when he could find it, Izuku put his quirk under analysis and a microscope, doing what he could to run through it to the end he needed to find. So as classmates were called up before him, Izuku stood there in wait and activated his quirk, sending power through his veins and emitting the faint glow his body always did when in Full Cowl. Izuku joined the select few of his classmates and glanced over to look at him, and like them watched his body stay still as he flexed his hands. Izuku needed to dive deeper into solving full control over his quirk. With the yakuza and the League and many individual villains on the loose, time seemed to pressure him on solving it all quickly, and Izuku was willing to meet that challenge head on.

Izuku was so caught up in his thoughts that he almost missed Aizawa calling him up to race, only acknowledging his teacher when Iida, the boy called up to run with him as well, patted him on the shoulder and back into the world around him. The engine quirk inheritor watched his classmate and friend walk with him up to the line, and near sink into the ground as he prepared to run with a look of focus that was almost too serious for someone like the green-haired boy. Before their teacher could call them off to race, the Tenya sibling questioned his partner as to what he was doing.

All Iida got in response was: "Running as fast as I can."

So Iida took the challenge, revving up his calves and readying by Izuku's side until their sensei shot them off and the two darted ahead. The two boys launched into their run, kicking up the dirt behind them as they zoomed past the field and to the finish line before passing it and skidding to their stops.

The two were impressive with their time, but only one of them looked impressed. Iida had managed to beat his last time by near a full second, and Izuku caught up fast enough to match Iida's previous record. And as impressive as it was and as proud as Iida was of them both, Izuku's focus drew blank opting to focus on his own body and the power still coursing through him, pushing as much of One for All as it could through his body before he could break him body apart from moving.

Of all that One for All gave him the ability to do, and of all the quirks in the world Izuku was apparent of, speed was the most double edged sword in the world. It was a weird quirk and ability, at least from what Izuku knew and could compare it to, since it was such an independent factor on the human body. Speed did not work with those who could use it to their advantage the way they could, the way Midoriya could, with strength. The brain wasn't in effect, nor were many parts of the body, when speed was in effect. People could not think and see and use their brains as fast as they could move; no quirk made apparent in the word had yet to allow for that. The Tenya family, All-Might, even Stain were are very fast people, and Izuku had watched all of them at work in that department (even against him, at that), and he knew almost for an undisputed fact that their brains were not as quick as their hands and feet. Everything they did, they thought up of before they could do it like everyone else did and responded in a speed that was all too natural in a world of super humans. There wasn't a known way around that fact.

All for One may hold an ability that could allow for such a thing, but Izuku has no intention of visiting that man up close any time soon, or ever if the world allowed for that.

So with a dead end blocking his train of thought, Izuku put the question of mind and speed aside to focus on the Grip Strength test the class was moving on to. Instead of Iida and Uraraka joining him in the test, though still with each other in the moment, Kirishima took side by Izuku to comment on the speed the successor had moved at. He'd seen the green teen move with speed and agility before, but to be near neck-and-neck with someone whose quirk is all about speed was something else. Izuku thanked him for the compliment and watched on as Kirishima activated the stones to his hands and squeeze down on the grip, eyeing with the horned teen as the numbers rose. Izuku followed suit, coursing the power through his hand and pushing slowly on the grip, bringing the device closer together.

The numbers rose higher and higher until the screen flashed the boys with an error sign, leaving them confused until the noticed Izuku's fingers and begun digging into the grip and leaving dents in the handles.

Izuku dropped it in shock, and just as fast as he let it go he crouched down to catch it before it could hit the dirt, and held it across in the palms of his still glowing hands. The two boys look at the device in shock to rival Kaminari's, but the red-haired teen ended up having to control his laughter while still congratulating his classmate for being as strong as he was. The green-haired boy on his part broke down into apologies, trying to explain that his quirk didn't usually put out more power and strength into his actions than he was aware of and that breaking the device wasn't in his attentions. But the damage had been done, and Aizawa still had to mark down what number Izuku could last remember seeing on the screen before flashing ERROR. The two boys walked off to the rest of their class, and in it Kirishima commented on just how strong Izuku really was despite his appearances. But Izuku didn't really believe that.

Izuku was strong, but One for All wasn't what made him strong. The quirk was something else from the teen, a strength residing in the boy and the boy's actual strength. It existed almost separately from Midoriya, only connecting by being something he could use. He could utilize strength beyond anything he could imagine, but even then he couldn't use it all, not in one go and not at the best it could offer the boy.

And that was a wall Izuku was left trying to figure out. Not just what he could do with the quirk, but how he could ever use all the strength and might hiding away in his own body without having to hold back as much as he was and did. It was a thought that carried into the tests that followed, as he outperformed on the Standing Long Jump, as he did fairly well for the less common movement of the Sustained Sideways Jumps, as he powered in all that he could handle to his finger and launched the ball in the Pitch test the way he did on day one. And he thought of it because he knew something was not right. Because he could feel how off his body was as he performed with his quirk, no matter how well he did. There was something to his quirk he wasn't getting, some very important detail he didn't know how to find, and he still had to figure out how to go about finding it.

So as they found out where they ranked in the class, as Izuku found himself in the top 10 of his classmates, as they walked back to change to their uniforms, Izuku stayed locked in his thoughts over his quirk. What was it that he didn't know about the stockpiling quirk, a mixture of a quirk that can move from person to person and a quirk of building strength, that was holding it back from using its power? He moved it from just a portion to his body to mapping it over his whole body, so what was the next logical step? What did he need to do to master the power bestowed upon him?

Izuku kept his quirk running as he changed into his uniform, much slower than his classmates as his mind registered how his body felt with a quirk, similar in a way that All-Might had his might form. The power was in his blood, so it should technically be a part of him, but it still wasn't. All-Might seemed to have countered that problem by having a form that could handle it, and Izuku wasn't sure if that was a mutation of his quirk when he got it or something every wielder of One for All would have. He'd have to check in with his predecessor on that. But if it was genetically a part of them, why didn't it work just normally? Was it because the power had grown so much that the two of them, mentor and student, had to find another way for their bodies to handle it? Couldn't their bodies come to regularly use the power? Why break his bones if it was a part of him now? Izuku froze midway as he putting on his undershirt.

Did One for All not transfer to his bones?

Was that the problem? Did the power bestowed on eight people before him only flow through the blood and not reach the bone? The quirk could only be passed through the donation of a form of DNA, but Izuku swallowed a strand of hair. That went through his digestive system, not his veins. But it somehow got in there, in his blood.

Could One for All be an emitter quirk? Was there a hidden ability of it to emit through his body, so the power could move from his stomach to his blood? Could he move it to his bone? Could he move it to his skin?

Izuku moved with haste to finish dressing before swiping a notebook and pen from his locker (because why shouldn't he have one lying around with a world so sporadic around him) and began to jot down his thoughts and questions on the page. By the time Izuku nearly completed a whole page he noticed that the last of his classmates were leaving the lockers to head back to class and he hurried to follow behind them. He did straggle in the back of the crowd, staying on his page of notes and looking it over again to see if there was something he had missed, and there was. Only it wasn't on the page, but beside him and giving him a look.

"You alright there, Dad of the Year?" Izuku let out a surprise in the thinking pose of his hand around his chin as he found his earjack-earbud classmate walking by his side back to class. He made motion to respond until the nickname she had given him registered in his ears and he broke into stutters and attempts to call off that nickname. Jirou gave a small smile and threw a hand onto his shoulder with a pat. "Calm down, crazy kid. I'm just messing with ya." Izuku worked to do just that as the girl kept speaking. "Though I have to admit, it's adorable that she thinks that. And I mean that genuinely."

"Y-yeah, it is…I think I almost screamed when she first said that, and that would have been bad." Izuku chuckled red and scratched the back of his head. "W-what's up?"

"I was going to ask you that. What'cha writing there?" Jirou gestured with a finger to the notebook open in his other hand, and Izuku looked down to it as well.

"Oh…I'm just, writing notes about my quirk."

The sound based quirk user whistled low. "Did you write all of that just now?"

"Y-yeah."

"Damn. I'm impressed. I don't think I could write that much at a moment's notice." Jirou let out a sigh and crossed her arms with a throw of her head back. "What are you writing about with your quirk? I saw you out there like a glow stick again. What's that about?"

"Um, just, trying to find a way so I can use my quirk without hurting myself."

"Don't you already? I remember when you use to do that a lot, but I thought you got past that."

"I do, but I can't use all the power at once. My quirk…" Now that he had a 'legally' named and defined quirk, he would have to work with it for when others found it out. "I can't use all the strength as I am right now. I need to keep training my body so I can, but until then I can only use a fraction of all the strength I can without tearing my body apart, so I'm trying to figure out a way to balance the power of my quirk with my body to fix that."

"Oh, that's how it works?" Jirou hummed at Izuku's side. "And you had your quirk active to…what?"

"So I could better judge how my quirk interacts with my body and try to find a work-around for my problems. I needed to figure out better how my body acts when my quirk is active to figure out what it isn't doing and see if there is a way to make it do what I need it to."

"So you were testing your quirk while our quirks were being tested? That's both impressive and sounds like you were pressed for time and cramming in training you've skipped." Izuku immediately became defensive, fighting against the notion that he would skip his much needed training, but Jirou laughed it off to him that it was just another joke. Izuku sighed as their class returned to the room. "Good luck, by the way." Izuku looked back up to Jirou and the serious expression she wore. "On figuring out how to not hurt yourself anymore. Good luck."

Izuku stared at her in silence for a moment before smiling back and nodding his thanks to the girl before they joined the rest of their class in the room.

* * *

 **Saturday**

Izuku thought Eri reminded him of someone, really after she had been freed from the hold of the yakuza and placed in the Midoriya family. Her contrasting natures of cheery when in the more comfortable situations and involving her family and heroes, and of shy when around crowds of people she was still unsure of trusting. Izuku never thought someone could be both at the same time as easily as she made it seem, until he remembered it basically summarized what he was before Yuei and he could do nothing but sympathize with her.

He had a hard time breaking out of the reclusive shell that he and Katsuki and most of the rest of the world around him built over the years of his childhood. For the longest time he felt trapped in it, as though it was molded to fit his body and then dipped in cement, just for the means of making it worse to make it worse. Teachers and students and people on the street who saw him made no effort in breaking him out, Katsuki was an active vandalizer, his mother had lost almost all hope in seeing him at his brightest, and All-Might had, just for a moment, turned away from the boy on their first encounter.

But then All-Might came back, and took his first chip at the wall Izuku hid behind, giving Izuku his first glimpse of hope, a glimpse of happiness in a world that kept trying to bring him down. Then Uraraka came by and with her smile gave Izuku another glimpse at the light. Then Iida came by and, though judgmental at first, came to understand Izuku and commended Izuku in a way he wasn't familiar with. Then came Asui. And Tokoyami. And Mei. And Mineta. And Kirishima. And Todoroki. And Mirio. And the rest of his class and friends he made. And though he barely knew them all, he found them helping him open up more and stop hiding away.

Izuku hoped that one day they could help Eri do the same. In time.

And time it would take. It seemed she could open up, one person at a time, but even then the more outgoing nature of some of his classmates were just too much for her to take in as suddenly as they tried. Slowly, she was growing accustomed to their behaviors, but Izuku could tell there was still quite a ways for them to go before their actions came across as just that normal instead of clashing with the more toned nature the Midoriya family around her was more about. But Izuku was confident that she would open up to more than just himself and their close family and 'uncles.' She had opened up to him after everything she had lived through, so it gave Midoriya a sense of hope that her trust would branch out beyond him.

Instead of trying to make that day sooner, Izuku chose to treat life with Eri normally. A big reason Eri was allowed to stay on Yuei campus like she was, was because of the heroes around to protect her, to keep her safe from the hands of the likes of the yakuza and League of Villains. Yuei was meant to be a safe house, but Izuku wanted it to feel like a regular house for the young girl. He wanted her to feel like she had the freedom she deserved and that heroes weren't watching over her shoulder every second to make sure she was safe. So Izuku took her out for the day to play in the snow.

Apparently Eri knew so little about the white weather when living under Overhaul. It existed, and she could faintly remember a time before Hell when she could see the snow out a window, but she had little experience out in it. And she knew it was cold to the skin, and enough could be piled up to make shapes, but she never had hands-on experience with the weather like that. So with the power invested in Izuku (and the help of his mother who had bought Eri the winter clothing she was going to need the weekend they went to the mall) Izuku took Eri outside into the winter wonderland and beyond.

So Izuku not only took her outside, but off campus, away from the flat lands to a park the older Midoriya was familiar with when he was a child. He didn't believe he had done enough for Eri to make her feel like she was living a childhood she should, or just a childhood that wasn't so secluded, so time away from the rooms and outside in the calm snow felt right. It had stopped falling overnight, though the clouds never went away, so the streets and grass and sidewalks had their own varying layers of snow. Instead of carrying Eri over the powder, Izuku let her down by his side to trudge through it, hand-in-hand.

Eri was smiling, despite the cold weather and the more than usual amount of layers over her to prevent a cold. She was smiling, being happy, and kicking up snow with some of her steps just because of the way it fell back down was so calm and pretty and Izuku just wanted to watch it and nothing else. He just wanted to sit by and watch Eri play in the snow because it was so god damned cute and nothing else should have to matter other than making her smile.

(Izuku once asked Uraraka if she knew what kind of feeling that was like, and the girl couldn't give a straight answer to the cinnamon roll hero in return. Some secrets had to be kept.)

Izuku brushed the snow off the swing once they arrived to the park and helped Eri aboard the plastic seat hung by metal. She couldn't recall if she had gone on any before, none were built in the hold for her, so Midoriya had no qualms letting her experience the serenity of swinging for probably the first time. She sounded off in giggles to indicate she enjoyed the swing the longer she was on it. So the two stayed there by the swings, Izuku standing behind to help push her just enough for her to have fun and not fly off by accident, and Eri holding on tight to the chains with her gloves and giggling as she swung back and forth.

And Mina Ashido plopped down in the swing beside them.

"Hey there, Midoriya fam," the pink girl greeted with a grin and a giggle as the two members of the family jolted in surprise and held each other in comfort. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you like that. I just wanted to say hi."

Izuku calmed his breath to the winter air as he stood up straight again with Eri turned in the swing holding onto his coat and Ashido seated across from them giggling into her own mittens. "H-hey, Ashido," the teen Midoriya greeted. "I didn't see you there. S-sorry about that."

"Nah, it's cool. Kinda just got here. Saw you two come over here and decided to say hi. Sorry for scarin' ya like that." The pink skinned hero chuckled a breath of giddy and nervous air as her hands rubbed together. "I wasn't expecting to see you all the way out here. What's up?"

"Oh, uh," Izuku looked down and patted Eri's back gently, while the little girl kept half her face covered against his winter coat and the other looking in the direction of the teen girl, "Eri here hasn't really been in the snow before, so I decided to take her out today and play in it. And, eheh, this is a park I used to play around in when I was a kid, so I thought I'd take her here to see it too."

"You've been here before?" The pink teen hummed and swung her feet forward, rocking the set she was on slightly. "Well I've never seen you here, and I've come here a lot."

"You have?" Izuku turned away as he asked the question, reassuring Eri with his hands and helping her sit back down normally on the swing, though facing him instead of away. "I came here a lot when I was younger, but I haven't really just…been here for a few years."

"Oh, I must have found it after you left it then. I found this a couple years back, but I haven't come over all that often. When did you stop coming here?"

Izuku placed his hands on the swing on either side of Eri and pushed her back gently, letting her swing back and forth slowly. "I, uh, stopped coming here when I was 10. Didn't really have anyone to play with, so I kinda just stopped."

Ashido let out a heartier laugh than her others. "Duuude. I found this place when I was 11. I missed you by a year? How unlucky can I get?"

"Unlucky?" Izuku turned back to his classmate as his hands moved on their own, catching Eri's mittens on the chains and giving them a small push to keep her swinging to and from him.

"Yeah, unlucky. You know how cool it would have been to meet you before coming to Yuei? The only person I knew was Kiri, and I bet he would have loved to know you when we were younger too. Your smarts probably would have helped us." The alien queen laughed nervously and shrugged helplessly at her classmate. "I'd probably rank higher in the class if I had you back then. You're a lot smarter than I thought you would be. I'm jealous."

Izuku blushed a smile at his classmates before turning back to Eri to soften it, and luckily for him getting a smile in return from the young girl. "You're smart too, Ashido-san. I'm not sure you're giving yourself enough credit."

The horned girl scoffed a smaller smile and swung her legs out as her seat went forward. "Tell that to my grades."

"Grades aren't everything." The pink girl looked back to Izuku, who kept his eyes on the silent Eri who looked back to him, just as interested as the other girl in what he was saying. "I mean, yeah, they're important. But they aren't the only kind of smarts. I still think you're smart." Izuku moved a hand so Eri came swinging in, and his finger booped her on the nose and elicited a giggle. He smiled to her again before turning back to his smiling classmate, unaware that it was directed to just how cute the boy was with the girl who claimed him as her father. "If anything, you've shown to be smart with your quirk. It's really just acid you're able to produce, but I've seen you use it to slide around, climb and launch yourself in the air instead of just using it to destroy. I've seen you be smart where it counts for a hero, and that's so far better than me."

"Eh-what?" The pink girl turned in the swing when she could calm it down and sat sideways on it to face her classmate. "There is no way I'm a better hero than you! Have you not looked at what you've done? You're probably the closest in the class to being like our teachers."

"But you've already figured out how to use your quirk better than I can use mine." Izuku tapped a hand to his chest a few times. "I still can't use my quirk to its fullest without being a danger to that and those around me, so you're already far batter a hero than me in that depart—"  
Izuku cut off as a body flew into him, near throwing him onto his back before he could catch himself and the girl against his chest. The two students looked down at the girl hugging into Midoriya's chest and squeeze on as best as she could. The little girl shook her head on his chest rapidly before throwing her head up to look at him with a pout.

"You're not a danger." Her voice wasn't loud; it was soft, and it broke Izuku's heart to have made that. The green haired teen sighed and helped Eri sit in his arms against his chest.

"I didn't mean it like that." Ashido sat in silence on her swing watching the two Midoriya's grow quieter. "My quirk is strong, and I can't control it all. It is dangerous if I can't learn to control it properly."

"You're not…"

Izuku didn't hear the shuffling of the snow until the sound was beside him and the body was on top of him. Izuku looked over his shoulder at the pink menace smiling down at him and Eri. The green teen blushed at the extra body on him, but his classmate promptly ignored the look. "Of course you're not dangerous, Midori. Sure, a bit reckless every now and again, but you aren't a danger to anyone. This little girl here is proof of that." Mina reached over to pat Eri on the head very gently, and the girl squished in to her and Izuku's jacket from the touch. "If you're trying to learn how to control your quirk properly, maybe I could help you? I know our quirks aren't even close to being the same, but maybe the idea of them could be enough?"

Izuku blinked up at his classmate to flutter away the red on his face. "A-are you sure?"

"Of course. I wouldn't mind helping ya, but for a price." The red faded quickly, along with a lot of the rest of the color from Izuku's face. "Could ya help me study?"

Midoriya looked on as the blood flowed back to his face and the girl over him giggled nervously. "I know you said the school work and grades aren't everything, but they're still something with the school. Especially with Aizawa-sensei. And I'd ask Momo to help but I think her bubbliness would be too much to pay attention to the work. Would…that be alright?"

"Uh…yeah, if you're sure." Izuku felt a weight lifted off his shoulder and Mina took to her feet and allowed Izuku to stand up with Eri still in his arms.

"Of course I'm sure! You're like the third smartest person in the class, and literally everyone else up there is too stiff. Although you are too but you can get out of that a lot more easily than they can."

"Yeah, I guess I am…sorry about that."

"Nah, it's cool. You're the most lighthearted stiff of the top of our class." (Is that an insult...?) "But if you're cool with helping me study, then thanks. And Eri and I can watch over you and make sure you don't have to think you could be dangerous." The pink skinned girl looked back to the small girl in Izuku's arms before gasping and bringing her fists to shake in front of her mouth. "Oh my god, we could be horn buddies too!" The acid crafting teen kept her voice low enough not to scare the girl as she bent her knees and got closer to the two. "Would that be cool with you? You have such a cute horn, I don't think Kiri would mind adding a third member to the club. Why didn't I realize this sooner?"

Eri stared back at the pink girl with the one eye not covered by Izuku's jacket silently and lifted a small hand to her own stub of a horn. The pink girl stared back and her and nodded. "I think it's adorable. Wanna touch mine?" The teen leaned her head closer to the girl, letting her horns angle in front of Eri and in her reach. The young girl looked at them still for a good few moments before she worked up the courage to reach out and brush her fingers down one of them. Mina smiled wider and kept her body still as to not scare Eri away, and Izuku watched from his place right there with them as the interaction took place with a smile on his face.

That was what Izuku wanted to see. Eri there and interacting closely with his classmates, even if it was just one at a time, and not shying away within a second. To see her there, mesmerized and fixated even if not smiling, is what he was hoping she would be one day with everyone living around her. And while Mina wasn't his first guess of who Eri would open up to next in his class, or at least start to, her efforts were greatly appreciated. Thought much more energetic at times, a personality and presentation Izuku was more common with seeing, to see her taking her time just enough for the younger girl was welcomed by the green teen.

Then Mina remembered what Izuku said as to why he and Eri were out in the snow and opted to join them, and give Eri her first experience with making a snow man. The girl got excited, and Izuku with a chuckle as she looked up to him for approval chose to let it happen. The young one only got more excited as Mina decided to also make the task of adding a horn to it as well once they made the head, and Izuku let himself laugh as Eri was immersed in snow.


	6. 1-6

**And I hath returned to this. One of my favorite stories to write. I've been waiting to come back to this story so much I deleted one of my other stories just to get to this one sooner.**

 **Okay, that's kind of a lie. Yeah, so I kinda was trying to write the next three chapters to _Betrayed_ , buuut I wasn't happy with how the story and perspectives moved forward so I tried looking at them from another angle, but it wasn't satisfying me, and I thought about it more and decided I don't want to continue with that story. So it's gone now. I couldn't find a way to move forward with it in the way I wanted, and I fear another story of mine is about to suffer that too, but for now it's the only one gone.**

 **Anyways, with it being out of the rotation, that means this is next to update, and oh how I have wanted to write this story. I am done marking dates of the week with this. Where in time the story is taking place will continue to move forward in the timeline, and around when it is will be hinted about throughout the chapters. We're still in their first year of school here, so no need to think I've jumped further than where I basically left off.**

 **Also, Eri is now under the watchful eyes of the Class 1-A in the manga, and Kota and the Pussycats are around them too, so now Midoriya has the company of both children he's carried on his back after and during the full use of his quirk after the fighting of a giant powerful man. What are the odds? Asking for a friend.**

 **This won't be the only chapter this week, don't worry. I do have the next one mapped out, and maybe, just maybe, I'll write a third one before returning to the other MHA story I got to continue.**

 **Also, I had planned on having Eri slowly change from calling Deku 'daddy' to 'papa' to eventually 'dad' as she grew up and more comfortable around people, but then I discovered the Japanese word for all three of those is the same so I hate life. I'll still have the English word here be made clear as she grows, but this whole scene I had planned for it I can't make cannon anymore so I'm sad now. It's not damning to the story, but it was going to be there all the same. I'm mad.**

 **Other than that, this is where my notes end, so onto a little response of comments like before.**

 **Lightningblade49: Yeah, welcome to a chapter that kinda embodies the slow progression of that. Getting all of Class 1-A and a few friends the chance to shine and move ahead as one big mess of a family is something I want to do, so getting them to interact more and closer to those they might not be close to already in the manga is a goal for this story, with Eri and Izuku taking center stage for now.**

 **Sergito: I actually read as much of those that were there. Planning on moving this story over to that site too so the people on that site can see it if they don't go here. More for the public eyes. As for the little thing between Izuku and Uraraka that slipped in, I do want to throw in as many things like what was in those parentheses throughout this story. It probably won't be as hectic and of the same form as I see it elsewhere, but trust me when I say I have plans for the Deku Protection Squad and other nods.**

 **Rebel28426: Yeah, I kinda am and kinda not. I should have made those options more clear. What I meant by disjointed story was that chapters wouldn't be hard on the story in the background as often. So the League, school, becoming heroes in the eyes of the public: that will all take more of the role of a setting than the driving focus every chapter. More often than not, character relationships and the growing family comfort of the Midoriyas will take priority and things will just be wholesome. I do have several chapter planned for hero work, school activities in greater detail and length, and the League of Villains moving forward in this story to the end, rest assured. But those chapters will come and go as I move the story forward chronologically. Good family times.**

 **EtheriousLogia: Oh that protective nature has only just begun, young padiwan. The true nature of father Izuku will shine upon us one day.**

 **Aaaand that is everything of note. Thank you to everyone who tunes in. Give me until probably Saturday because the next chapter is longer than this and you'll have another set of my writing for this family to read. Enjoy.**

* * *

 **There was a lot Eri couldn't remember.**

She remembered the day the scary man in his mask took her into his custody and hurt her. Many days before that were hazy on her mind, and several after it felt gone too. The big caterpillar man with the scarf called it something – torauma something – but that it was entirely normal for someone who went through something bad. He also said it was a good thing that she couldn't remember some things, but her daddy had his hands over her ears when he said that so she wasn't supposed to hear it. But she did, and she asked him what the caterpillar man meant when he called it good.

Her daddy – the greatest hero of all time Deku – was surprised and looked scared when she asked it, and she had to explain that she could still hear the talking as it was happening. Deku had a hard time answering since his mouth was moving too much to make words, but he got himself fixed and told her they thought it was good that many of the bad things that must have happened were lost to her mind. He wasn't happy with what the bird men had done, and he wanted to help fight her nightmares of them, and he was worried and mad by how much they must have done – daddy talked faster than she could keep up with but he always looked so focused like he did against the bad bird man that it made her feel safe – but he was even still kinda happy that she was able to leave behind some of those days. But Deku didn't like talking about that, so he had moved the talk onwards to a movie night and got Eri happy and excited to see something new.

It was an old film, one made with something called animēshon, and it was about this kid who was this princess who lived on an island with her family and all these other people who sing and then the princess gets this boat and goes out to see and meets this big man with drawings on his body and who turns into animals like a bird and a fish and a shark and a curved wooden stick and then they travel together and fight coconuts and a big crab and a big fire monster who turns out to be a big grass lady and everyone is smiling and happy and Eri really liked watching it.

And then the movie got Eri thinking. Princess Monoma (daddy coughed and laughed when she said her name but he messed with her hair and kept smiling so she didn't think anything wrong was going on) had a nice family, complete with a mom and a dad and a grandma and a pet chicken. They all really loved each other.

Then Eri looked to her family and saw it not being the same but still being all love. She had daddy and uncle Mirio and auntie Inko and uncle Yaginori and auntie Mitsu and all of daddy's friend who were really nice but she wasn't approaching them yet. And auntie Mitsu had a husband (Mirio helped teach her that so it wasn't always referred to as mommy and daddy but husband and waifu) and auntie Inko and uncle Toshi looked really close. But daddy didn't have someone like that. Deku didn't have someone like Monoma's parents did or Katsu's parents did or a lot of parents did. Not that Eri noticed. He had her, but not someone else like them.

Did he have someone like that in his heart?

* * *

 **Alien Queen was a very loud lady.**

Eri liked her, she really did. Alien Queen was nice and always smiled and always gushed about how cute she was in the light yellow and blue and green dresses she got to wear. But her voice would always be really loud when she wanted it to be, and she moved she was really loud too.

Mina said she got that a lot, people telling her that her voice was always loud (and she was sorry for scaring Eri for it but daddy was around to hug her so she was fine) and that she moved in a way that mimicked (that meant copy) her words and nice emotions. She was apparently a really loud girl growing up, and it contrasted a lot from Eri when she wasn't alone with Midori (she called daddy that a lot) but Mina still really liked Eri even if she wasn't talking all that much.

She was spending more time with Mina around her and Deku ever since she offered her smile and helping daddy get stronger while he helped Mina study. The girl spent a lot more time in their room studying with daddy while uncle Mirio was helping Eri with her own studies. The pink girl liked the study times, since she had never really got to talk with uncle Mirio before so they got to talk more and smile at each other more. And Eri got to see how smart Deku was. He had a lot of words to say when helping Alien Queen learn, and a lot of big words she (both Eri and Mina by the look of her face when daddy said them) didn't understand or know but he looked so focused and determined and smiled when his eyes were on Eri so she thought it was cool. Alien Queen whined a lot and Deku worried a bunch trying to get through their homework but after a while it would always end up with Mina bouncing and smiling and hugging Deku and saying thanks and such.

And when they could Mina would take Deku and Eri with him to a larger room somewhere in the school. Mina called it a dance studio where people were allowed to come in and practice dancing, kinda like how they were practicing math and English in Deku's room. And Mina really wanted to help them with it.

It's just Deku was slow to say yes.

"Umm…M-Mina, I'm not…sure how this is s-supposed to help me with my quirk – it-it's fun to dance and all, I-I swear, I'm not saying i-it's bad that you like to dance—"

"Nah, it's cool man," Mina responded with a smile and a swing of her hand. "I should'a probably explained myself about this beforehand. My b." The pink girl chuckled through her teeth-showing smile as Deku worked to cool himself down and stop his shaking. "And you don't have to worry about saying what you think. I know _you_ don't mean any harm. Besides, it's what we're here for."

"Eh?" Deku blinked a lot of times at the girl in front of him as she took a pose like Eri had seen heroes do in pictures. "W-what do you mean?"

"We're here because you, sir," Mina shot a finger forward to point at Deku, who jumped back surprised, "need to loosen up. Talking wise, you've improved. I remember you stuttering a lot back when we started out year here, and you've…mostly gotten past that!" She sounded really loud and proud when she spoke, but it really get Deku to smile and look any less confused. "But, in fighting, you're still really straightforward and stiff. You're telegraphing in sparring, and you don't really do much out of the ordinary when you get to use your quirk."

"What does _that_ mean?"

"It means I am going to teach you how to loosen up and move your body more!"

Deku stood there silently, hands playing with the helm of his big shirt as his eyes blinked rapidly and his mouth flapped to speak. "O-okay, but…what does that have to do with-with me controlling my quirk?"

"You said before you've had to keep doing physical strength and weight training to get a better handle on using your power quirk right?" Deku gave a slight nod of a response, eyes darting to the side to where Eri sat against the room mirrors watching the two teens talk. "Well maybe doing aerobics training could benefit you too. The more ease you have using your body, the more ease you have using your quirk, and maybe the more of it you'll be able to use."

"Is…" Deku looked to the ceiling of the room, face stoned in concentration. "Did that help you with your quirk?"

"Kinda!" Mina announced in a cheer to jump the two others in the room for the moment. "I had to continuously practice with creating acid so I could make more in one go without hurting my hands and feet, but also learning how to dance helped me move my body more freely and sporadically so it's not only easier to use but I get to do more with my acid. My quirk and my body aren't as fully fleshed out or all over my body as yours is, but doing stuff that was more for mobility than lifting strength makes it easier to do more with my body and quirk." The Alien Queen let out a small snort and lowered her head. "God, I think I butchered my explanation of all that. I don't know how you can do that so easily." And she was whining again, but Eri found it funny to watch someone older act so younger. "Did any of that make sense?"

"Yeah…I think I understand." His head hadn't lowered from its position, but the face Deku was making had softened. "My quirk is a very strength based quirk, same as yours is a very destructive quirk, being acid at its most basic. I've had to do a lot of training so I had a body fit for handling the full power of it…eventually. You've had to do the same, but at the same time you're able to use your quirk for mobility, both in scaling vertical surfaces and trekking across flat lands and hills. I've done some of the same since my internship with Gran Torino, and it's helped me move around the same way." His head lowered, eyebrows furrowed and eyes slightly less open to the pink girl. "What would dancing help with?"

"Combat, mostly," Mina began. "Yeah, you can run around and jump really cool, and even with your new big boots you look like you can do a lot in a fight, but whenever we've had to not use our quirks and take it easy in sparring and missions, you kinda stiffen up and go head on into them. You get nervous a lot and you're probably overanalyzing in that huge brain of yours even now."

Deku sputtered, back curling down as his eyes and the corners of his mouth fell.

"It's a compliment, I swear," the Alien Queen was quick to state, waving her arms in front of her with the smallest of smiles. "You're really smart all the time but you do always mumble and take notes of everything and it is super cool that you can do that. I just think that you think more than you act when acting really fast would get done what needs to be done."

The room stuck in silence as Eri watched Mina and daddy stared back at one another, with the latter leaning where he stood. Eri could see his mouth move and hear the whisper of his voice, just not the words he was saying. She could see his eyes change shape and shrink and darken and lighten in between his words, just not knowing why. And he continued to do that until his own laugh broke him out if it. Only his eyes weren't as bright as they usually were when he laughed.

"I-I've been told the opposite by a lot of people," he spoke out, turning his eyes back to the Alien Queen. "That I act more than I think when I do things." One of his hands dragged along his face as he softened his laughs. "And you see the opposite from me."

"Really?" The pink girl held back her own laughs with the green boy. "Oh yeah, you do kinda do that, don't you?" The smile didn't leave her face, but her laughter was replaced with humming that sounded in the room and Eri shook from the feeling in her ears from it. It was a weird noise. "Then maybe you're just doing the opposite of what you should. Thinking too much when you should be acting and acting too soon when you should be thinking it over. Maybe you just gotta figure that out."

Eri watched as her daddy lowered his head and looked to the ground, probably thinking again. He didn't hum like Mina did but his eyes had a shine to them again as the green of them darted about probably thinking about the pink girls words, until they darted over and met with Eri's. She looked back to him, his face frozen in a flat look if not somewhat sad and worried that something the pink girl had said hurt Deku until his face grew and he sent her a smile, soft and comforting like she remembered and knew of him. He turned his head back to the older girl in front of him, widening his smile and rubbing a hand through the back of his hair with a soft chuckle.

"Guess I should work on that, shouldn't I?" he admitted aloud through his chuckling. "That…you know, that's actually really good advice. Thanks, Ashido."

"Eh, call me Mina," the pink girl responded with a weak wave of her hand. "Eri's allowed to do it, might as well get the whole family in on it."

"A-ah…" The hand behind his head scratched faster as Deku gained a bit of red. "A-are you sure?"

"Course I'm sure, Midori! Anything to help you loosen up! Now onwards! I still have to teach you how to dance and I'm not backing down!"

"R-right!"

Eri stayed from her spot against the mirror as neither of them started to dance (she was really excited to see more since the festival). Instead, the Alien Queen pushed Deku to the floor and got him to work with her on stretching, which according to the pink girl was always important to do before jumping into physical activities. As the two were trying to reach for their toes Eri copied leaning forward in her spot on the ground and trying to wrap her hands around her feet like the Alien Queen could. Only she couldn't reach far enough down her legs and gave up several seconds later. When she looked back to the two teens, they were staring at her, and the girl of the two invited Eri over with a smile to join them in stretching if she wanted to, and another smile from daddy that she would be welcomed if she agreed. And she did, taking a spot beside Deku and trying again to reach her toes.

Mina stepped up to help, asking first for permission to place her hands on Eri's back and give a small push to help her reach further down for a few seconds, and getting a nod from Eri who got a nod from Deku when she looked to him. She still couldn't reach far enough down but she could get closer and the girl behind her told her doing it more would mean she would succeed eventually and not to mind that she couldn't do it yet, since Deku couldn't either.

Which was then followed by the pink girl jumping on said teen and pushing him further into his stretch as he yelped and flailed at the body out of left field, getting the pink girl to laugh at his antics and infecting the girl beside them to smile as well. Her daddy was funny.

* * *

 **Urara was a good cook.**

Deku told Eri that Urara was there when they rescued her. She was off to the side helping other heroes save other people that needed saving. She was one of daddy's closer friends. She was kind, sweet, had a big smile, and Eri liked that in others. It made it easier to grow nice around them. To not be afraid of them. She still hadn't opened up to Urara but she wouldn't cower away from her touch all that much. Deku said that was something Eri could be proud of and that Urara would be there for her like he was.

Part of that meant making sure Eri was fed. Deku was always telling Urara she didn't have to do it, but the girl with pink finger tips often liked to cook something up for the little girl and bring it over as dinner or lunch or even breakfast if she woke up early enough. The food always tasted nice. Eri liked her cooking and wished it wasn't so hard to give the girl a hug for it every time she looked to the taller girl's shining eyes and wide smile.

At least she could watch them cook.

Deku had to meet with uncle Toshi to talk about something and wouldn't be around for a while, and he tried to call in Mirio to spend some time with her but he wouldn't answer his phone. He was going to call more but then suddenly Urara appeared in his struggles and opted in to watch over her while he was out. Eri's daddy was hesitant to pass her over, but Urara told him a bunch it would be fine and she would love to watch over the younger girl while he was busy. Eri was hesitant to say yes, but the idea was easier to accept with the promise of watching cake baking and making.

So Eri hugged Deku goodbye and got to sit in one of the tall chairs in the kitchen watching Urara and Sugar Man bake a cake together (the Sugar Man called it a New Year's cake party that they were making these for). The two had a bunch of food stuff lying around the counters, and their jobs consisted of Urara pouring together the dry ingredients and the liquid ingredients in separate bowls and then Sugar Man mixing them into one big bowl at a time and then pouring that stuff into a bunch of little plate bowls. He made a lot and set them about and when the two teen were done, Eri was left looking at a bunch of plate bowls filled with chocolate mix.

Sugar Man put the bowls two at a time in the oven and set the timer above it before turning back to find his classmate holding the spatula with Eri so the younger girl could taste the chocolate mix. He sighed and strutted over to the two, hanging his towel over his shoulder and leaning on the opposite side of the counter from the two girls. "So Midoriya left you in charge of watching over Eri?"

Urara looked away from Eri, leaving the young girl to take the spatula into her grip alone and continue to lick away the chocolate in silence. "Yep. Apparently All-Might needed to talk with him for a bit, and since Deku needed someone to do it I jumped in and offered."

"All-Might, huh?" Satou straightened where he stood and clapped his hands together softly. "Ya' know, sometimes, I think those two are connected at the hip. Though I get why All-Might would want to be around Midoriya so much."

"Really?" Uraraka leaned forward in her seat to her classmate. "Why is that?"

"Because Midoriya is secretly All-Might's child." The two classmates and the young girl turned their attention to the front door of the dorm building, watching the two-color-haired classmate walk inside and past them to the stairwell.

Satou sighed and kept his body turning to keep his face towards the boy walking past. "No, Todoroki. That's not what I was going to say. Every time we talk about this you bring that up – wait, were you waiting outside the door just to bring that up? When did you even leave?"

"No, and I didn't." Todoroki kept his eyes forward as he disappeared up the stairs. "Good luck with the cake."

Eri watched as the bicolored boy left the room and turned her attention back to the other teens, watching as Sugar Man waved a hand in front of himself and moved his mouth without ever speaking and Urara watching him too and holding back laughter. Eri didn't understand what they were doing and went back to finishing the chocolate on the spatula.

"He's your friend, so I'm blaming you for that," Sugar Man finally stated, pointing a finger to Urara who let out an 'aw come on" before he continued. "Anyways, what I meant was that their quirks are so similar so All-Might's probably doing what he can to help Midoriya better use his quirk. All-Might has the ability to move in the air with a swing of his arms to propel him, and we've seen Midoriya cause his own air currents with the flick of his fingers. He's probably out there now learning how to use that wind to move himself like All-Might does. Kind of like Bakugou does."

Urara let out a low whistle and leaned down onto the counter. "Don't tell him you said that. Deku told me Bakugou doesn't like it when he copies his style, so it would probably be better to say he's just learning from All-Might."

"Right. Those two have beef. Or Bakugou does. Has Midoriya told you about that stuff yet?" Sugar Man stepped back from the counter, turning to the oven and watching the timer atop it.

"No he hasn't—" Eri poked Urara with the handle of the spatula, turning the taller girl's attention to the shorter one and giving her a small smile as she took the cooking tool. The tall girl hovered a hand to Eri and patted the short girl's head gently, and Eri responded by looking down and closing her eyes to accept the pat. "Deku hasn't told me what's gone on between them but I bet it was Bakugou who started it. I doubt Deku could ever start anything that would have someone yell at him like that."

"I wouldn't put it past him," Sugar Man admitted, taking the spatula from Urara and moving it into the running water from the sink. "Midoriya can get fierce when he wants to. I would believe it if he took the competition between him and Bakugou too far when they were younger."

"I can't see that." Eri watched Urara move her hand silently, scooping up a handful of chocolate chips from the bag before them and bringing it closer to the young girl. She looked to the teen who smiled down at her and nodded, signaling permission and the young girl took a few chips of her own to start eating. "Deku's too sweet to do anything like that. I bet he always has been always been like that."

"Of course you would think he's a sweet boy."

"What?"

"Nothing." Sugar Man turned back around as he wiped clean the spatula in his hands and stared at his classmate. Said girl started back at him, silently blinking and watching his smile grow by the second. Eri stared back and forth between the two, at the happy Satou and the confused Uraraka before the teen girl's face lit up red and she jumped out of her seat, stuttering out words and yelling at Satou to take back what he said and that her words didn't mean anything like that and Eri didn't get it but she watched on anyways as Satou laughed and Uraraka flailed about. Until the brunette huffed, grabbed the bag of chocolate chips and bolted to the stairs with them, a tall man with a spatula and towel chasing after her to bring them back to decorate the cake with them.

Eri didn't move from her seat, plucking a chocolate chip at a time from her hand as she agreed with Urara. Deku was always sweet.

* * *

 **Momo was a big girl.**

Eri could see how tall she was compared to Deku and a lot of the other people she got to meet that her daddy knew. Her hair was also really long and Eri always saw it dressed in a way to show how much of it the big girl had. Close to some of the tall people in Deku's class Eri felt dwarfed and scared by just their presence. Only their personalities didn't meet that scariness, and the tall girl probably had the most different to that look.

Momo liked making things, and she made quite a lot of things for Eri. She made little dolls out of some of Eri's favorite TV characters and went out to buy a doll of another that Eri really liked and played with a lot. She also made Eri some clothing, little hats and mittens for the cold weather outside. Deku didn't seem to like that though, the latter that was about clothing, always trying to tell the tall girl that she didn't have to do what she was doing but the big girl always insisted that she did and that she didn't mind helping Eri if it was something little to do.

Momo was also really good at looks. She helped Eri's daddy learn how to tie her hair into a ponytail, since the young girl only trusted him to do that. She also gave Eri bows to wear with her dress colors, ones that 'complimented' (that was the big word Momo used) the color Eri was wearing. She was really good at making things and people look good, and Eri always thought she looked pretty when she wasn't dressed in the school uniform and got to wear all these other clothes the big girl had and wore around the dorms.

Maybe that's why Momo was in charge of the decorations.

Deku told Eri there was a New Year's part coming up for them, one they were planning on holding in their dorm building, and about everyone was pitching in on something or other to help make the party or bring something to it. And he and Momo and Iida, the one with glasses and pipe legs, were in charge of directing and decorating it. Eri didn't know why, and neither did daddy, but it sounded like most of his friends trusted him and the other two teens to be in charge and Eri could agree with that much.

Iida had the list in hand, pencil in the other, going down the list they had written. "Okay, so, Sato and Uraraka have made and stored the cakes for the party already. Hagakure, Jirou, Kaminari and Kirishima have been tasked with bringing in more food for everyone; Todoroki, Tsuyu and Ojiro bringing drinks; and Koda and Bakugou are making the punch."

"Sero and Shoji will make and hang up the decorations and the streamers," Yaoyorozu continued, waving a hand in a circle in front of her, "and Aoyama and Ashido will be designing and hanging up the banner."

"Should there be more?" Midoriya piped up, hands rubbing against his elbows and arms wrapped around Eri in his lap with her arms wrapped around the Cleffa doll Momo had given her. "I'm not sure what else we could add or bring to the party. I feel kinda bad all we're doing is giving orders."

"What else is there at parties?" Momo placed her chin on her hand and drummed her fingers along her lips.

"If there is nothing else to bring, you could offer to help one of the other groups," Iida piped up, gesturing a hand to his classmate across him. Eri followed the hand, looking up to Deku as his eyes slid between the two sets on him. "I can't think of anything else we may be missing that would be important to have—"

"We could have balloons." Eri shot her head to the taller girl in the room, looking between her classmates following her suggestion. "Balloons are usually at a party. If we wanted we could add those to the decorations."

"They are," Iida followed up, "but I do not know if we would need any around." Eri turned her head to him, tightening her clutches on the doll as the two tall teens talked back and forth about balloons at the party before she looked up to Deku.

He looked down at Eri as she let one arm go of the doll to hold his arm as she turned and met her big shining eyes with his. The two stayed silent as they stared at one another, and though her daddy wanted to ask something, his mouth stayed shut and kept his stare into the red of her eyes before rising up to his classmates and simply stating, "Balloons."

The two teen looked with Eri to the green teen staring back at them. Iida squinted his eyes. "Balloons?"

Midoriya nodded. "Balloons."

Yaoyorozu nodded with a look of approval. "Balloons."

Iida looked between the two looking back at him before his eyes lowered and found Eri's. "Balloons."

Iida sagged his shoulders and gave his own nod. "Alright then, we'll add balloons to the list."

"I can buy and set them up," Deku spoke up quickly, raising one hand to signal.

"I can help with that," Momo offered.

"Alright. I – actually, I realize we haven't signed Tokoyami into doing anything. Maybe he could help you two with setting those up."

"What about you then?" Deku placed his hand over Eri's, giving it a small squeeze as his arms held her closer to his chest.

Iida looked the list of roles and names for seconds, eyes running up and down before rising and staring into space. "I am opting myself to assist Aoyama and Ashido with the banner. I believe that they can do a good job but I fear it may be a messier process than it needs to be."

Momo hummed and rose from her hand. "You have a point. They could easily decorate the banner but they will probably try to add too much." Her eyes moved down to Eri and stared at the short girl for a moment before her arm glowed and produced a red ribbon. Momo caught it, tied it, and leaned over to the young girl in Izuku's lap to place the red bow on her head. The hand lowered and patted gently on the shoulder of her green top and the tall girl sent her a smile as she leaned back to where she was sitting.

Deku gulped and nodded. "Yeah, probably. I trust them to decorate it, but they might add too many decorations arguing it makes it 'prettier'." He had more to say, but he cut himself short as he looked down to Eri, moving her hand about his and tracing along the scars his quirk had earned him. The hand rolled for hers to be in his palm and the fingers curled gently over hers, with her eyes trained on the intertwined hands and oblivious to the solemn eyes down on her. Deku had been decorated too. Eri thought he was still pretty.

* * *

 **Kyo was a really keen girl.**

Uncle Mirio had used the word once to describe Eri when she wanted to do well in their study sessions or make daddy happy. He explained to her that it was used to tell when someone was interested in something or someone. He thought it fit her passion and drive perfectly (he also had to explain what those words meant in that context (and then tried to explain the word context)). He told Eri it was a good thing to have because it showed that there was something she cared about and that was something people liked to know other people did.

With that now known to the young girl, Eri could say Jirou was also keen. The older girl really liked her music and instruments (Eri saw she had a lot of them in her room). The girl also seemed close to the boy with yellow hair and the tallest girl, so she was probably interested in them too. But she was also keen to Deku.

Eri noticed how the purple girl would shoot looks at him when they passed. How closer she would get and the talking the two teens would do when they were near one another. Daddy never mentioned ever getting texts from the girl, only ever telling Eri it was Urara, Iida, uncle Mirio or one of the adults. But he talked with them in person as he did over his phone. They were keen on each other. Kyo only did half of that and Eri didn't know why.

But Eri did know a keyboard looked cool.

"This is the A key," Kyo told Eri, leaned over one shoulder and pointing to the white key in the row of white and black keys before the two girls. Eri stuck her hand forward, pressing a finger down on the key noted by the taller girl, and listened to the sound it made. The teen flinched and drew her own hand in front of the keys, turning a dial near the corner of the keyboard before retracting her hand. "Sorry, that was a bit louder than I thought it would be. Try it again."

The young girl did, the sound coming from the instrument now softer to hear. The girl beside her nodded and straightened on her feet. "There you go. The keys are repeated after every pattern, so this key is also an A key, and you can follow this picture again to go either way down it. You can play with it as long as you want, that good?" Eri nodded, looking up at the picture Kyo at placed on top of the keyboard that named the keys and where they were positioned for Eri to work off of.

"So, Jiro…" Deku was there too, sitting on the other side of Eri, watching her play on the keyboard, but also looking up at the girl who invited them into her room. "Y-you wanted to ask me something about my quirk?"

"Hm? Oh, right." Kyo crouched down beside Eri, sitting on the ground as Deku did and keeping her eyes on him. "You mentioned something a few weeks ago about your quirk that's been bugging me. Sorry I haven't asked this sooner."

"No, no. I-It's fine. Go ahead a-and ask."

The purple haired girl nodded slowly, turning her eyes away as Eri began playing with the keys to hear how different they sounded. "You said you couldn't use all the power of your quirk as you are now, that you can only use a fraction of it. Do you know what fraction that is compared to all of your quirk's power?"

"Oh, it, um…I-I use about a fifth or a fourth of the whole of it now, compared to when I was using it at the start of the year."

"Okay." Kyo licked her lips but Eri kept the sight of the two teens in the corners of her eyes and kept focusing on the keyboard. "But is that a quarter of what your full power is now or what it was months ago?"

"…Huh?"

One of the jack from Jiro's ears extended to her hand and was twirled around on a finger. "Everyone's quirks get stronger, right? And people get stronger too. I'd figure that would be the same with you and your quirk that the max amount of strength you can reach rises as you get better."

Midoriya blinked at his classmate under the sound of Eri clicking away at the various keys of the keyboard to a dismembered tune. "I…guess? I-I haven't thought of it that way before." He clicked his tongue and crossed his arms and leaned back where he sat. "I guess that does make sense that my quirk would get stronger as I use it, but I don't know if using it at the bare minimum would make the max of it stronger than before."

"Oh, right. That would make sense. You still have to push through using your quirk before you can push it beyond with you." Eri hit the keys again, following up the pitch of the black keys as the two teens watched on. "So how strong are you now? Can your body get stronger as your quirk does or could be training those separately?"

"Uh, separately, I guess." Deku poked a finger out and pressed on one of the Keys, turning Eri's attention to it and pressing the one beside it. "I had to train just my body in the hopes of being accepted here, and my quirk made itself known that I could begin using it once I was strong enough to handle the smallest fraction allowed."

"Oh, you have a situational quirk? I've heard about those. Actually, do you know of Oliver Clarke?"

"Oli…n-no I don't think I have. Who is that?"

Kyo turned where she sat pulling her knees up to her chest and leaning her head over her knees. "He's a British music artist from a few decades back, when quirks were still popping up and becoming common. His quirk was Overlay – he could edit the sound of his voice like he was using filters and even to the pitch. He just didn't know he had it until he was in high-school and getting into music that it popped up. Dude in an interview said he was introverted growing up and didn't speak out that much, but he put himself through and went through some vocal training and then his quirk popped up out of nowhere in class and he used it to his advantage. I think that was one of the oldest cases of quirks like that. Pretty rare too. Aren't you lucky?"

Deku laughed a strained laugh, urging Eri to look over her shoulder at him. "I wouldn't call myself lucky with what my quirk has done to me since I've been able to use it. It's a lot stronger than I'm able to handle it." Eri reached out a hand to her daddy, who blinked at it a few times before extending an arm toward her. She took his hand in her own and used her other hand with it to bring it closer and press against her cheek.

"Maybe, but the fact that you've pushed through the pain it caused you to keep using it means you're still pretty powerful yourself." Midoriya turned his attention away from Eri nuzzling his hand to Jiro resting on her knees before the girl's eyes blinked wide and her head shot. "That's deeper than I meant to go. Sorry."

"No, it…it's fine." Deku smiled at her softly and bowed his head. "That…means a lot to hear. Thank you."

"…Anytime," she decided, lowering her chin back to her knees. "Don't mention it. Please. I don't need Kaminari on me trying to act more sentimental all the time."

"W-well that isn't a bad thing, Jiro."

"You better keep your lips sealed."

Eri ignored the two teens as Deku fumbled about his words and Kyo laughed in good nature, keeping her attention on the warmth of his hands and the bumps of his scars trailing down his arm. Eri's daddy was strong.

* * *

 **Eri didn't know what to think of Mei.**

She had only met the metal girl a few times, and those were more so seeing the girl work and act than actually talking with her. The girl with pink dreads and goggles was always smiling about something and was always dressed in big gloves and a pair of goggles somewhere around her face (she once wore them on backwards so the strap was around her forehead and the goggles on the back of her head and Eri rightfully ask if she had eyes back there that needed the goggles too.

It was the one time they talked and Eri was rewarded with a hard hat to take home for her 'cuteness' as Mei put it).

Daddy knew Mei pretty well. She had helped design his costume along with the pro hero she worked under, the one Deku had worn to save her, so she at least knew the older girl was a good one. But also according to Deku, she was a bit fast and loud and got up close a lot in conversations so that worried Eri from meeting with her. Finally coming face-to-face with her had been on hold for a good long while for her sake, but when Deku had planned to talk with the girl about his hero costume, Eri had decided she would come along instead of wait with someone for his return. So the two powered through together and went to the school's workshop with the door right open and the girl in question hammering away.

Eri stood back and watched as Deku approached and talked with the other girl, turning her attention away from her invention engaging with her in conversation Eri couldn't hear over the noises around them (uncle Mirio was teaching her a lot of big words). Somewhere in their talk Mei had pulled him over to the table and picked out a roll of blue paper and laid it out in front of the two. So Eri got really curious and stalked over before filing between the two to see a lot of writing and drawing around a sketch of her daddy's hero uniform.

Mei looked down to the young girl with a smile Eri didn't think was possible. "Hey there, unicorn. Was wondering when you were gonna come over. How have you been? " Eri hadn't heard anyone else call her unicorn because of the stub of a horn she had but she knew what a unicorn was and she thought they were really beautiful animals and it felt nice to hear that directed at her so instead of vocalizing a response she blushed and huddled against Deku's leg and side while keeping her eyes on the blueprint in front of them.

Midoriya placed an arm around her, cupping a hand behind her shoulder and patting her blue dress lightly. "Eri's been doing well," he answered for her, letting his gaze drop to the short girl. "She's been growing comfortable around my classmates but…she's still shy with talking. And that's fine. It's nice to see her be comfortable here." Eri took a handful of his shirt and tried to hide her face against it.

"That's fantastic!" Mei was also pretty loud like Alien Queen, even doing the big poses the pink skinned girl did. Maybe it was a pink thing. "It's great to see this school's third family dynamic catching up to speed!"

"Third family dyna—what are the other two?"

"Neither here nor there! Anyways!" Mei slammed a hand down on the blue paper, jolting the father-daughter duo in place. "You said you wanted to fix your mask, right? Well I bet I know what you're thinking of then! What you need is a multi-purpose air-supplying unit in its place!"

"That's…exactly what I was going to ask for." Eri shifted her head slightly to look up at the teens looking at one another. "Right now, it's kind of just there for decoration. It hasn't really served that much of a purpose when I've done hero work, so I thought, maybe for water rescues or fire emergencies and such, having a device to help me keep my breath for longer to help if I'm around to would be better for my suit and just further down the line."

"Excellent then! I've been thinking about giving you one, only Power Loader isn't letting me make the equipment myself and getting the devices for the mask are hard to get at the moment so having it officially added to your uniform won't be happening for a while!"

Deku blinked a few times over before tilting his head with a hum. "Why do I feel like that isn't the end of what you have to say?"

Mei laughed in a way that concerned Eri so she snuggled against Deku more and his hand moved up behind her head and she just wanted to fall asleep now that she was comfortable under his protective hold. "Because I, the humble genius that I am," ("Calling yourself humble completely contradicts the idea that you are, though," Eri heard Deku mumble), "went ahead and built a functioning air breather in the design of your mask for you to use until it's officially added to your suit! Along with goggles to go with it, just in case you need them for swimming and smoky encounters."

"You-you did? Is that allowed?"

The mechanic turned on her heels and walked along the line of desks to a basket with metal and devices piled inside. "As long as you don't take it to the field before the real deal comes in, yep! You can practice here on school ground, though. As long as it goes through test runs, this is entirely legal and conforms to the school rules. I made sure to check!" The top half of the girl disappeared into the pile with the sound of heavy shuffling signaling anything was happening where she went to.

"Alright…" Deku's hand curled through Eri's hair brushing it along and behind her back instead of over her shoulder. "Will it work?"

"It should! I've run it through-found it!" The girl with focused eyes popped back out of the pile with a ring of white and gray in her hands, and connected to it a box of plastic with a think string attached to it. "I tried it myself to make sure it works while I was working with the power tools! I don't know how well it works under water yet, and I've worn it in heat just not actual fires, but it should be functioning just fine under those conditions." The girl sped back to the small family and handed the mask against Deku's chest. "Here you are, ten million! Your new and improved but not yet official hero mask!"

"Title's a work in progress," he mumbled, taking the device from her hands and examining it in his own. "So I can…take this and practice with it?"

"As long as you come back to me with results, it's all yours!" Hatsume jumped and sat atop the table and blueprint beside them. "Need anything else from me, hero?"

"A-ah, no. T-this was everything. Thank you." Midoriya colored his face red as he held the mask under one arms and kept the other around his daughter-figure. "Sorry for coming by for something so short, but I've been wanting to talk with you about it."

"Don't worry about it, Midoriya!" the girl announced in her smile, crossing her arms in the process. "It's my future job to furnish you guys for the field. Come by whenever you got something to ask or demand. I'll get it to ya!"

"Thanks, Hatsume." Midoriya strained his return of the smile, sliding his arm about Eri until he had her hand in his. "Ready to go, Eri?" The girl attached to his hip nodded and grasp his fingers close to her head as he guided her out of the workshop. "Thank you again, Hatsume! Have a good day!"

"Anytime! Oh, and tell Tenya and Uravity to stop by sometime! I have some ideas I want to run by them for their uniforms! You'll be pro heroes in no time!"

"Will do!" The father and daughter walked out the workshop and turned down the hall leaving behind the sound of metal clanking together and the faint laughter of the girl in the shop. Both Eri's hands tool a hold of Deku's, holding the appendage against her head and fingers brushing along her face gently. It was nice and warm against her, and looking up at the smile he held down at her made it warmer.

Her daddy was already a hero.


	7. 1-7

**Wow, would'ya look at that? It's not Saturday. Silly me.**

 **I don't know why I said Saturday when in reality it took me until the middle of the next week just to get this out. I'm sorry. This took a bit of rewriting to get done and make sure everything flowed the way I wanted it to. I wasn't expecting to change it as much as I did, but it took time out of me to plan around the times I had to spend away from the computer as well.**

 **Also there's a couple of things in these last two chapters of note, and I'll address them at the end of next chapter. Leave you to try and spot them. Have fun with that mess.**

 **This will be the last update for now, and I'll be moving on to _Metal Bat_ for the next few updates and chapters. Who's excited for that? Please somebody be.**

 **I honestly don't have a lot of updates to throw in, so I guess I'll just respond to a few comments. Got quite a lot this time around. Makes me happy.**

 **Guest: While I promise nothing, I understand your lack of enthusiasm, I guess is the best way of saying that. I have nothing against guy/guy stories, but I have no idea why they overpopulate this franchise and site specifically. And, at least for my viewing pleasure, not a lot are stellar enough to stick with. Had this with PJO, where too many yaoi stories were just M and really going for that rating, and not a lot of good ones, to me, were of the wholesome telling. Really, if I'm looking for the ships specifically, I'd rather they be of growing it and living it, not of what we don't show the children. Gets me down sometimes.**

 **Lightningblade49: Yeah. It's part of what that chapter and this are all about, with a few other people thrown about of interest, just not too many. Next chapter or two will have more of the class standing out, just not to this format or idea. These are all I have.**

 **Sergito: With the planing out of this story, I did want there to be chapters that go to other perspectives, and Eri was one of the obvious ones to follow. Thought it best to follow this topic from her perspective over Izuku's. Makes sense to me, at least.**

 **LilTeddyUrsa: Yeah, and in the manga everyone is her guardian, so fuck, I've been outclassed (I heard it only when I said it). Then again, I wasn't trying to predict the manga to begin with. The fact they did that at all surprised me more than I thought it would.**

 **fencer29: Yeah, neither of them got a focus. Tsuyu I did put in this, because you are right, Asui does have the sisterly experience to step up like that for Eri, but it's just about how open said young girl is to letting that be and how often too. Tooru is a bit less planned, but she does have something in the next chapter or two anyways, so it isn't like I'll be forgetting her entirely. Worry not.**

 **J0K3R Of Monday: Everyone is. I'm glad you noticed someone in their class has the idea to take the cinnamon roll for themselves, but that intent won't be appearing in anyone for a short while longer. (I say short but with how I update it might take months. I don't know. I'm dumb that way.)**

 **To Guest and BukkakeNoJutsu (ok but y tho?): thank you both for your comments. I hope the former of you didn't have a heart attack typing that. It's been bothering me the past few nights and whenever I look at it. _Oh gods that's worrying_.**

 **That's about it. Welcome to the second half of the Eri perspective to her daddy's classmates. Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Shouto was scary.**

He wasn't a bad man. Deku trusted him, and he trusted daddy, but Eri didn't trust him. Shouto was too serious, too cold. He didn't smile, but he did, but his actual smiles were too small to be smiles. And he didn't laugh, just breathe when everyone else was laughing. Eri didn't know why he wouldn't but he seemed very closed off and it made her suspicious.

But Deku did trust him. Anytime the two got to talking they talked. Eri didn't know if Shouto was honest with what he said but Deku trusted him so she would at least believe that the double-color-man was being honest with her daddy. If the man was kind, he was at least kind to Deku.

But the fire Shouto was holding in front of daddy's face was concerning.

Eri got to watch from a safe distance as Deku took a test run with the mask Mei had given him the day before. He had asked Shouto to help him try it out, and after some explaining the other boy had agreed. Deku has explained he had tried it under water and knows that doesn't deep in and enter his lungs, and he wants to try it under heat and smoke so he needed Shouto for that. The two-colored boy was against setting anything on fire, and Deku agreed and asked that he just set his arm on fire and let the smoke build up in front of that to see if the smoke was filtered out too.

So there the two boys stood, one with his arm extended and ablaze, and the other with a mask and goggles standing directly in front of that fire. Eri sat near the entrance of the training grounds, on one of the chairs they could find, sitting on her hands and kicking her feet and waiting for something to mess up so she could run in and get him to promise to never do something like this again.

Eri didn't want Deku to get hurt, and she worried with every breath that the mask wouldn't work or the flames would get too high or Shouto's arm would get to close to Deku or something went wrong. It was probably why Deku didn't want her to come along in the first place. But Eri was smart. She knew she was smart, and she insisted that she went along to protect and prevent him from getting hurt. She didn't say it out loud, but she didn't trust Shouto enough to leave him and her daddy alone. Not when she could be around.

Deku didn't look over at her, instead keeping his eyes on the prize that was the fire in front of his face. Shouto watched him and with him, eyes darting between the covered face of his friend and his own arm covered in flames. For a second his eyes diverted away and to the entrance, and then to the girl sitting in the chair beside it, glaring over in their direction. He only stared back in mild confusion, but said nothing about it to his friend and classmate beside him and went back to controlling the fire erupting around his arm.

When Deku stepped away, Eri shot up in her seat, filled with alarm and worry. Shouto extinguished the flames he was producing and watched his friend in wait, as Deku removed the mask from his face and left the device to hand from his neck. Deku took a few short breaths before looking to his classmate and smiling. Eri could see it too, but it didn't easy away all her worries just yet. She was raring to bound off the chair and into Deku as he and Shouto approached, the former doing the majority of the talking between then, and she near jumped into Deku's arms when the approached and Deku crouched in front of her.

Actually, she did just that.

Deku gave a small laugh as he caught Eri, seating her in his arms as she worked around the mask to hug his neck. "You want to head back to the dorm, Eri?" he questioned her. "I told you it would be okay if you wanted to stay back. No one would have minded keeping you company."

Eri kept quiet in the hug, settling for the shoulder alone to rest her head on. She closed her eyes and stayed quiet, taking in his warmth through her jacket without a moment's hesitation. Deku shuffled for a moment and asked Eri to lift her head, and when she did she could feel something soft tap her chest and disappear, so she opened her eyes and found herself staring at Shouto, frozen in place with his hands hovering the jacket he had tossed over Deku's shoulder.

Deku moves an arm away to work itself into the sleeve, so Eri rested her head back down on the shoulder, almost hiding behind it as her eyes bore into Shouto's. It wasn't necessarily a glare but it was a look that held no warmth regardless. Shouto didn't return the look mutually, holding almost nothing in his eyes, judgement or other, as he looked into the red of Eri's.

Deku shifted Eri into his other arm, moving her to the other side of his body as he put his other arm in the jacket. Eri helped him, tugging it closer to the center of his chest as his hand came out the sleeve. Deku smiled, leaning his face into Eri's and nuzzling her cheek with his nose, breaking her colder demeanor with a few soft giggles. "Thank you Eri."

Shouto stepped up beside him, closer to the other arm that wasn't holding Eri as he zipped up his own coat. "So that's going to be your new mask?" The Midoriya's looked to Shouto at the change of topic, one less pleasant than the other, but Izuku let out the slightest of chuckles all the same.

"Uh, kinda," he replied, shifting his arms to have a better hold and carry of Eri. "It's really just a, uh, prototype to what I want my mask to be. Mei's letting me test it so I know it fits and works how it's supposed to. It works under heat and around fire, so that's one of the tests down."

"The other was water, correct?" The child of Endeavor moved forward to the exit, with Midoriya in tow and Eri in his hands.

"Yeah, but I haven't tested it under water pressure and depth yet. Not exactly the ideal weather to be doing that in."

"I would assume as such. Frostbite can be a terrible thing."

Deku's head rose and tilted back ever so slightly. "Are you able to get frostbite?"

Shouto turned back to look at him with a deadpan expression. "I haven't tried."

"Fair enough," Deku resounded flicking his head to the side. Eri fixes her hold around his neck to keep stable. "But yeah, water is what's next. I'm thinking it should work in the snow as well, but that isn't as big of an issue unless I'll be working the tundra or arctic, I guess. Winter here isn't that awful to breathe in." Deku turned his face to the young girl in his arms. "What do you think about the snow, Eri?

The girl opened her mouth to respond before the doors before them were opened and the three entered the winter world outside. Immediately Eri's attention was taken by the soft falling of the snow, reaching out a hand as the flakes fell into her palm. Deku smiled on as he watched her, walking slowly in the snowfall to allow her more time to watch it and be mesmerized by it. She stuck her tongue out, ignoring the two teens beside her as she tried to catch some in her mouth and her daddy chuckled as she caught some. Her attention turned back to him at the sound, and the smile on his face got one to grow on hers.

"Sometimes I forget you're seen as her dad." The Midoriya's turned together to the Shouto that had been watching them, the youngest hugging onto her daddy's neck in defense and the older blushing and breathing out a nervous laugh at the comment.

"Y-yeah, she does do that. I don't mind it." Izuku tilted his head to press gently against hers. "It's nice that she sees me that way." Eri nuzzled her head against his cheek, easing the smile on her daddy's face.

"I'm surprised at how good you are at it."

And the smile fell, just enough that Eri could see it when she backed away and watched Deku as Shouto had turned away and continued walking. "What do you mean?"

"You're sixteen, in high school, training and learning how to be a pro hero and balance your quirk with your body. Finding a spot in there to "Be a Dad" sounds like it would be really hard, but you seem to be managing it just fine."

Eri could feel Deku stutter as a whole to Shouto's words, though she couldn't tell why he did. But that look was gone in an instant and replaced by a soft smile to the other teen, as Deku took forward again to follow. "Yeah, that does sound like it would be hard. I guess I'm lucky enough that it works." His eyes turned back to Eri, who had been watching him intently for some time, and in his eyes she could see them soften for the briefest of moments before lighting up again as he placed a kiss to her forehead. "Thank you for accepting me as such, Eri."

The young girl dived into his shoulder with a blush, hugging onto his coat and digging into him to hide as he continued his way through the soft snowfall, hands holding on loosely but close to Eri to keep her comfortable and close and safe. Eri's daddy was the bestest daddy.

* * *

 **Iida reminded Eri of a robot.**

His movements were not that stiff, but they were enough to make Eri believe he had more metal to him than his armor and legs. She didn't think he was more robot than human, given he ate and breathed and smiled. He was also really smart, but not computer smart, and he always seemed to gain something new when others were talking with him. He was also really kind and understanding, and also open to understanding more. Eri liked him.

Deku liked him too. He told Eri that Tenya was one of his first friends at Yuei and while they weren't the best of friends at first, the two had gone through a lot to become closer to one another. Iida was one of the first people awake in the dorms, usually getting ready for classes and on some occasion going on an early exercise run before he had to get to the first class. Eri only knew that because Deku did it too. He had small workouts he did from the chair of his desk that Eri would watch until he fell asleep, and some he would do on the floor too.

And he went running with Iida too.

The taller boy had sent messages to Deku on his phone, which the green boy would reply to and get dressed and check to make sure Eri was tucked in enough to keep sleeping until he got back to get ready for his day and hers. Most of the time, she was on the brink of passing out and did so not too long after he had left, or she would already be asleep and continue to be so as he changed and left. Only on the rare occasion was she still awake and not tired enough to fall asleep then and there and stayed lying in bed sleeping with her Cleffa until he got back.

Or on the offset she was against sleeping she decided to wait and welcome him back when he and Iida were done.

Walking out of the bedroom by herself wasn't hard to do; she did so every now and again when she didn't want to bother Deku awake and had to be somewhere else. And for the brief moments where she was left without him or someone asked to look over her in his absence, she left the room to the common area to feel less confined.

People were becoming more bearable to directly contact and be around, if talking was still off the table. The teachers and adults were easier to open up to, and a few seemed really weird and fun to watch. Deku's friends were growing on her, each interaction becoming easier to feel free in. But with all of Deku's floor mates' doors closed and no one on the stairs or in the common area, being alone just felt weird.

Eri took a seat on the couch, hugging Cleffa to her chest and swinging her legs off the edge as she waited. Her daddy had been gone for a while already, meaning he would return not too long later. But that later was still a long while away – or it at least felt like such – and Eri didn't want to wait for him to come back; she wanted to welcome him back. She wanted to do something to welcome him back and she had to figure that out what he could come back to. What is something he would need?

Towels. He would need towels. Eri hopped off the couch with Cleffa in hands and ran back up the stairs to the floor above and back into her and Deku's room, grabbing two towels from the pile he had in their closet, and carried them back down to the couch for his return.

And then she found herself with two towels and a plushie in the position she was before and still not feeling like it was enough. She huffed and lowered her head onto her doll, thinking over again the things Deku would need when he came back. But what else would he need after a run?

Water. Eri bounded off the couch again, keeping Cleffa in her arms and the towels on the couch as she headed into the kitchenette of the common space to grab a glass to fill with water and give to her daddy when he returned from his jog. Only the cups were in a high shelf that she couldn't reach without someone helping her. She huffed again, looking at the shelves and counters around her, hands fumbling with the doll against her chest as she tried to figure out what to do until she turned to face to big eyes of white with dots of black in their center. "Kero."

Eri jumped into the cabinet doors behind her, startled by the sudden appearance of Asui, one of Deku's other friends. Eri hugged the doll closer to her face, hiding behind some of it on instinct, but Asui didn't more forward and stood in her place with a hand raised. "It's just me Eri," the older girl began in a soft voice, waving her hand up and down in a slow motion. "Sorry for startling you. I only came down for breakfast. I wasn't expecting to see you here or sneak up on you like that. What are you doing up?"

Eri kept her face meshed into her doll despite the question. Asui was one of the easier people to be around in Deku's class. The older girl had been a big sister before, and she had offered herself the role as such for Eri whenever she thought she needed it. Eri never vocally appreciated the gesture, but she wasn't opposed to having Asui around when she wanted or had to be. Still, the other girl's blunt nature and blank dominant expression weren't as fun to be with.

Deku was happy with Asui's offer, but he didn't push it faster than Eri wanted. He held the leash of their interactions until the young girl was ready to embrace them on her own, and even with the generosity of the frog girl he continued to do so. Just to make sure Eri was okay and comfortable.

"Is something the matter, Eri?" Asui questioned some more, looking around the common room to see the lack of people around them. "Where's Midoriya?"

Eri hummed against her doll and turned in place, her eyes leaving the girl in front of her to the door that led to the outside world. Asui followed her line of sight to the door, letting out a hum of her own in understanding. "I'm guessing he and Iida went running?" Eri only nodded before her mission clicked in her mind again and turned her attention upright to the cabinet with the cups. Asui followed her to that too, watching the girl spin her whole body around to face the cabinet too high to reach.

Eri stepped to the side as Asui joined by, opening the cabinet and grabbing a glass to hand to the young girl beside her. "Is this what you needed?" Though shy, Eri nodded and set her doll on the counter and took the glass in her hands, carrying it to the fridge and using what height she did have to fill it up with water. When full enough, Eri took care with carrying it again, moving to the seats of the counter and setting it atop there before running back to her doll and taking it with her to hop on and occupy one of the seats.

Tsuyu watched the girl with intrigue as she went about her task, and thoroughly ended up not taking a sip of the water as she took her seat and turned her eyes back to the door Midoriya and Iida were bound to return from any minute now. The frog quirked girl hummed in thought as she took a box out from one of the cabinets, taking with it two bowls and pouring the contents of the cereal into both. She stored the box back away, took from a drawer two spoons, and brought both with her as she took a seat beside the youngest Midoriya, handing one to her on the counter.

The short girl watched the older approach, eyeing her and the bowl as the Cleffa doll rose up her chest. The older girl only smiled to the smaller one, softly and with warmth. "You should have something to eat before breakfast," Asui told her. "I don't mind sharing some with you."

Eri wanted to turn down the offer and wait for her daddy to come back so he could eat too, but the voice of her stomach outweighed the voice in her head as she eyes the bowl of cereal untouched in front of her. A growl emitted from her belly and earned her a blush as the doll pressed to her face once again, but the sound was reason enough for her to reach out to the spoon and take the cereal presented before her as her meal.

The two girl ate together without talking, the youngest of them slowly easing in her seat as she continued eating. The two sat in a soft silence before the door came swinging in, allowing entrance to two boys and the cold wind. The taller of the two closed the door behind them, shivering slightly with his friend as the boy in green let out a clacking chuckle. "Thank you inviting me on that, Iida."

The taller boy turned to his friend. "Thank you for coming along," he responded, turning his head slightly to the window beside them. "We are lucky the snow was forecasted to stay on the ground today instead of falling or we wouldn't have had this opportunity. If the weather chooses to keep this up for the next few weeks we may be able to—oh."

Izuku turned to look at his friend but stop short of stopping on him as his eyes caught sight of the green and white towards the kitchen, and followed the gaze of his classmate to the two girls watching their entrance, the older of which was waving a hand in their direction. "Good morning," Tsuyu called across the room, drawing the two boys towards her and Eri.

"Good morning, Tsuyu," Iida greeted back. "And good morning to you too Eri." The young girl looked on to him and Deku silently, only giving a curt nod to acknowledge the tall boy's words. "You're up fairly early, or at least earlier than I have seen you been, Tsuyu. What brings you down here?"

"I went to bed too early last night," the green girl replied, setting her spoon down into her bowl. "My body got all the sleep it needed, and since I wasn't falling back asleep I thought I could just start my day a bit earlier than usual."

Eri turned the two teens beside her out as their shared their morning greetings and stories and followed Deku with her eyes as he approached and walked around the counter to reach Eri. The green boy smiled and crouched slightly beside her, shooting a hand forward to tap her own. "Good morning, Eri," he greeted her in a soft voice, somewhat strained as he took in heavy heaves of air. "What are you doing up so early? I thought you went back to sleep."

Eri didn't respond to him, staring into his warm eyes and he did with hers before her head jumped in memory and her hands came back to her and shot out over the counter. She took the glass of water in her hands and turned back to Deku, holding the glass out in front of him as he straightened his legs. He blinked at the cup and her several timed before smiling and easing the cup out of her hands and into his own. "You filled this for me?" Eri nodded and Izuku widened his smile, using one of his hands to cup her cheek and ruffle the top of her hair. "Thank you Eri. That's sweet of you."

Eri sat and accepted the hand on her head for several moments before she squeaked and jumped again, this time off the chair and around Deku to run elsewhere. Iida and Tsuyu, who had taken a pause in their conversation to watch Izuku and Eri interact, continued watching with their classmates as Eri ran to the couch, picking from it the two towels she had left their earlier and ran back to her daddy and held the stack in her hands up to him.

Izuku let out a sound from his lips of surprise before it became a grin again, taking a towel from the top of the two and tapping it gently against his forehead. "You didn't have to do this, Eri," Izuku began down to her, "but that you. That was kind of you."

Eri smiled back up to him before looking down to the towel still left in her hands. She turned back around the counter and chairs, walking up to the taller boy in the group and looking up to him. Iida blinked down at the young girl as she stared up at him and, with slight hesitation, lifted her arms and the towel in them towards the classmate of Deku. Iida sent a small smile of his own down to the young girl, taking the towel slowly from her and unfolding it in his hand. "Why thank you, Eri. I was planning on heading up to my room to get one for myself."

Eri smiled back slightly before she was lifted into the air and found herself seating in Deku's arms, throwing her own around his neck to keep herself stable. She was startled at first, but the big smile he wore right in front of her face eased her worries and had her enamored. "That was very thoughtful of you, Eri." The young girl collapsed into his shoulder, hugging him by the neck.

Eri zoned out as Izuku continued to talk to her and then to his classmates, the towel between him and the girl in his arms as he went upstairs to their room. He set the young girl back on the bed gently, touching her lightly on the shoulders to secure her attention and ask her if there was anything she needed before he left to wash up for the day. He picked out his clothes and asked her again, and grabbed his towel and asked once more for safe keeping before pressing his mouth to her forehead and heading off. But only for a minute, as he barged right back in and placed the Cleffa doll in her lap before heading to the showers.

Eri hugged the doll to her chest and fell back into the sheets with a light fwoomp. For her happiness, Deku was very thoughtful.

* * *

 **Eji was an open person.**

Eri liked him one of the most. He smiled a lot and joked a lot and hugged other a lot that Eri thought he could be a good friend. Alien Queen had brought him over once to talk and have a "Horn Buddies Group Meeting" and went off about getting a pony to join their club (Eri didn't get the joke; ponies don't have horns, so the older girl's idea just sounded weird). Deku watched from a distance to let Eri try to interact on her own, and neither of the people beside her rushed her into conversations, but she still didn't talk out loud and kept to writing and drawing her ideas instead.

Eji was a calm version of the Alien Queen, Eri noticed. He had the same happiness the girl did, but he didn't jumps and bounce as much as she did. He kept himself seated with the same wild smile and bright eyes but he kept himself where he wanted to be during it. Eri liked that more, not having him move around a bunch and not knowing where he would end up. He felt safer to be around than Mina, which was something, though he wouldn't beat Deku in that department.

He did seem to try doing so in hero talk though.

"Oh, I remember this one; Space King."

"Space King…Last hero work he did was…three years ago, by now? Quirk, Gravitation: he was able to change how gravity affected him and was able to turn other surfaces and dimensions as his gravitational pull to run up walls and on ceilings and cliff sides. Aerial work wasn't too outstanding since he could remove himself from a gravitational pull but had a harder time maneuvering and landing during and after hero work." Deku paused, running a latex hand through Eri's hair as he stared at the ceiling of the common room. "His last legal job was in Russia, fighting off against a regular mob of bad guys causing harm in a hotel lobby and trying to take people hostage. Convicted seven men at once, hospitalized just one, and no ties to and higher governing body was found to be influencing the men into attacking then and there when they did—"

"Wait wait wait." Kirishima put his hands up over the laptop screen, getting Deku to turn his head enough to look at his classmate on the sofa as he lied on the couch. "Last legal job? I thought he was retired."

"He did retire but a few months after that announcement a vigilante in Dubai was seen running on walls and taking down common street thugs at night and it was believed to be him since he stayed in Central Asia for his retirement, or was at least there when he announced retiring. It's only speculation though because the man in Dubai was never caught or easily followed, somehow disappearing in the dark of night pretty easily. Space King took to hiding with his family after retiring so no one's been able to question him about it."

"Huh." Eji brought his hands back and scratched his chin. "I hadn't heard about that."

"I only remember it from the news a year ago by now. Several forums were talking about his alleged turn to vigilantism when it made it to headlines so that alerted me to it going on while I was training. It should be on his page. Did you follow the link?"

"Uh, no not yet. I'll check." Eji got to clicking away, eyes on the screen as Eri watched the two of them. Her head rested atop Deku's stomach as the majority of her body lied beside his on the cushions. Her hands were wrapped together on her chest while his, hidden beneath thin green gloves, were playing with her straightened hair with one as the other held her close beside. "Oh yeah, you're right. They have a whole thing about that down here. They really haven't caught him, huh?"

"Not that I've heard. Next one?"

"Next one." Eji let out a low whistle. "You really are all knowledge about heroes, huh, Midoriya? Bakugou's mentioned it a lot that I thought he was just bluffing, but you're eight for eight already."

Deku let out a breath to start his laugh, and Eri looked up to seem his shake and smile. "Y-yeah, it's kind of a hobby I had growing up, and I haven't had a reason to stop it. I don't do it as frequently anymore, but it's still fun to read up about heroes every now and again."

"I get it. Trust me. They're all amazing. Oh!" Eji jumped in his seat, turning Eri's eyes to him after the happy sound he made. "Here's a recent hero; Mount Lady."

"Mount Lady…I, uh," Deku let out another small laugh, "I was actually there for her debut show."

"Wait, really?" Kirishima scooted to the edge of his seat, closer to Midoriya. "I only heard about her on the news a few days after her appearance. What was it like? What was _she_ like? What did she do?"

"She came in and stole Kamui Woods' credit." The three sat in a silence for several seconds before Deku's head shot up. "Wait, that's rude to say."

Eji curled down on his computer with laughter as Deku's face lit up red and he licked his lips to compose himself.

"I-I—What I _meant_ to say was," Deku restarted, "Kamui Woods was there, fighting against someone with a shark head and a growth quirk and they were fighting atop a railway line and Kamui Woods was about to use his Preemptive Binding Lacquered Chain Prison to capture them but Mount Lady came in with her Canyon Cannon and took the man down in one blow so the credit was given to her. That was her first appearance on the field."

"Oh wow. She pulled off that move that early? It's pretty famous with her. What was she like back then?"

"Same as she is now." Deku's hand slid up Eri's back to her shoulder, curling around and rubbing it gently when she shuttered. He looked down to her, curling his neck to look at her eyes. "Are you cold?" The young girl nodded, snuggling closer to him for warmth as he sat up. "Wait here. I'll get you a blanket." The young hero gently pried her hands away, standing as she stayed sitting and patting her hands, shoulders and head as he left her there to grab a blanket. The young girl watched him anxious for his return, clutching and unclutching her trousers as he shuffled through the pile in the corner. Her gaze turned over to Eji, who almost on instinct looked up from the screen to meet her stare and sent her the warmest smile he had. She put an effort in to smile back but in her struggles found herself enamored by the cut always hanging over his eye.

For a moment her world darkened before the light was back and so was Deku, wrapping a blanket over her shoulders and bundling the girl up in warmth. Her eyes moved back to Deku's and the smile he had to her helped warm her up faster as she was lied back down. He sat back down beside her head, placing a hand on her gently and Eri looked to his scars. But they were under the long sleeves of his shirt and the gloves he had bought a few days ago.

She took the edge of the blanket and tried pulling it over her daddy's hands and knees, and he noticed quickly what she was doing. "You want me to join?" The young girl nodded feverishly and he made no hesitation to loosen the wrapping of the blanket and lie himself down beside her for the blanket to fit them both. Eri pressed her hands and head into his chest, finding herself a spot comfortable enough to close her eyes as his hands and hold washed over her again.

"Should we continue?" Deku looked back over to the classmate who had yet to move, laptop in on his lap as he continued to watch the small family in the class.

"Uh, sure," Midoriya responded, gently stroking the hair of the girl huddled against him.

Kirishima gave his green friend a smile. "With all the stories heroes have, I wonder which one will be the most famous of yours." His eyes darted back down to his computer. "I bet they'd acknowledge you for the youngest dad to graduate from Yuei."

"I-I-I don't know if they'll…" Deku let out a nervous laugh. "If they'll e-ever hear about this."

"I'll spread the word for you then. Don't worry about it."

"Y-you don't have to do that."

"I know, but you deserve some public recognition for being a good dad."

"K-Kiris-shima, please."

Eri tuned the voices of her daddy and his friend as she tried to fall asleep across Deku's chest. His hold on her was gentle and the presence of him around made her warm and happy and just being in his arms was enough to tell her to keep sleeping. Eji was right. Deku was good.

* * *

 **Tokyo was kinder than Eri thought he would be.**

A few fears followed Eri around since the day of her freedom, many circulating around the monster at the head of it all. But sometimes his minions, his lackeys, would have something to say about it too. One of the many she feared (and come to hate, despite Deku's and uncle Mirio's words not to think about them like that or in any way) the most was the short one, Mimikyu. He wasn't actually short, Eri knew that the small doll he took the form of was just a lie to keep his (stupid) face hidden (Deku wasn't happy when she was mean, but he wasn't mad that she thought of them the way he did and admitted). Mimikyu was crazy and yelled a bunch and he was creepy and Eri never liked him. She never got around to that, and that made her happy.

But his powers, his quirk, was also disturbing. She knew the nights where he took over something in her room to watch her and make sure she never left. She knew when the eyes were present and the life was there when there shouldn't be any life at all. It was uncomfortable. Unsettling. She couldn't do anything about him without punishment, but she could never ignore him enough to feel safe and calm.

He was why she was so terrified of Toko and his dark bird.

She had seen the feathery classmate of Deku's a number of times, and she always found herself staring at him for too long, and she always found those memories coming back, just long enough to remind her of the man who sat watching her in the shadows and it broke her. It was through her, one of the heroes and some papers on the yakuza that Deku got to learn of why his classmate scared Eri so, and Eri tried to act brave about it and push past it but his hands were too warm and comforting and it was enough to keep her honest with him.

If there was a classmate of his Deku kept the relationship slow with, when it involved Eri, it was Toko. He tried to set her up with and around him the least, and any time she and the bird man were around each other, Deku was there near smack dab in the middle. If Eri was afraid, then her fears were to be consoled and her company only that which she was comfortable with. Deku insisted it. She and her happiness came first. She wanted to feel bad about doing that to her daddy and the friendships he had, but his comforting hold and soft voice didn't want her doing that. Deku loved her too much to let her take any blame.

Even Toko agreed. Deku had told him enough about why she was scared, enough to know the surface level problem of it all, and he was open to doing things differently when she was around to divert those fears. When she first met him he stayed off to the side, very quiet in comparison to most others, and he favored sitting or leaning into the more shaded areas in the room if he had the option. But when everything was told, he tried more to be out there in front of her (she didn't know if he was also trying or doing the same with the rest of Deku's class and the people in their building). He looked more awake; attentive but not focused to where she would think he was watching her with intent. Open but not in her face and jumping on her as Mimikyu did with people. Calm but not boring and eerie like Chisaki.

His quirk was harder to be convinced over. Dark Shade was a lot louder than the bird man it/he was connected to. It jumped out more, especially towards Eri in what she was told was in good intent and means to befriend but Eri couldn't see its smile. It was a small creature made entirely out of smoky shadows, and Deku told her its size changed with the light source it found itself under. The lack of light made it stronger and bigger, and the presence of light made it weaker and smaller. But it still wasn't calm enough for Eri to feel comfortable approaching them.

That didn't distance her from them. Not entirely. She would still find herself around and beside the bird man every now and again, and out of courtesy he kept the Dark Shade away and contained from Eri as to not startle and scare her. Though short, she could look Tokyo in his eyes when he talked to her before she had to look away.

And spending a movie night with the most of Deku's class was one day she tried to do more.

Deku had been more focused on his homework the past two nights, leaving Mirio to accompany her a while longer as his catch-up studies weren't pushing him for winter exams. But even when he was done, Deku said he was surprised how easy and short his tests were, only having to do writing things. A few of his classmates were the same, but it seemed several more were happy to have done what they did and called for a celebration together before everyone went home on Christmas. Several agreed for a movie night, and Sugar Man allowed one of the cakes he made for their return to the dorms during the break to celebrate the New Year together could be shared during the film.

Eri stayed with Deku, who decided on staying with Iida, Urara, and twelve of his other classmates from what Eri counted. They agreed to two movies that night and gathered in the common room to eat and enjoy together before heading home the morning after. Eri got a seat on the couch with Deku, Tokyo and Sero, with everyone else taking the neighboring sofas, couch or floor between them all facing the TV. Eri got her slice of the cake, and took up on her daddy's offer to have some of his too when she finished eating before him.

Eri wasn't too into the movie, though. The heroes in it were cool, and it didn't look bad in the slightest, but she didn't find herself excited in it like Deku's classmates on the floor were. Mina, Pika and Kiri were all having their own hushed talk while pointing at the screen, only keeping it down when uncle Katsu beside them kicked Pika to tell them so. Deku was watching it intently too, sparing a glance to Eri every now and again before focusing on the screen for another several minutes.

Eri found herself watching the people around her instead. Of Deku in his silence instead of his muttering. Of uncle Katsu and his three friends. Of Urara, Asui and Iida huddled on a sofa watching with little talking to one another. Of Momo, Kyo, Sero and Sugar Man sharing talk of the hushed questioned the creation girl asked aloud. And of Tokyo and his shade beside her, the former watching the film and the latter laying on his lap watching her.

Eri blinked at the soft glowing eyes of the shadow bird staring at hers. It looked at her in silence for a moment's notice, then turned its eyes to Toko and lifted itself slowly as it eased onto the couch in between him and the young girl. His eyes were on Eri again, but all he did was wave a makeshift hand instead of vocalize a greeting. Eri did the same, although her wave came stuttered and unsure of the situation. Dark Shade looked away to the film for a while before lifting slowly from the couch and looking at her again.

"I'm sorry for scaring you last time," came its hushed voice, sounding muffled as though a cloth was over it. Eri could still understand the words. "When Fumikage said you and Midoriya were attached at the hip, I thought he meant literally and got excited because I've never met someone like him and me before, and I acted rude and irrational. I'm sorry."

His apology sounded genuine to Eri. He didn't advance to meet her as he did before. He diverted his eyes down and to the screen after he had finished speaking. The stubs that became hands on his side fiddled with one another. He looked nervous. He looked sad. Eri knew what that felt like.

Eri curled her hands as she hummed, short and soft, and reached slowly over to Dark Shadow to place a hand atop his head. He didn't look physical, but there was a feeling to him that she could feel and that her hand could touch and pet, as she decided to do. Dark Shadow stared at her, eyes wider in surprise but made no move to back away.

"…It's okay," she replied in a whisper, trying to emulate what her daddy did to console her. She didn't want to be afraid. "I'm not…mad at you." She tried to find the words to say. "You just sacred me is all…" She curled down in the cushion, closer to the shadow quirk. "I'm sorry for hurting your feelings."

Dark Shadow rose in her touch only slightly, but she still retracted her hand as he did so. "No, you don't have to apologize," he told her, still in his hushed voice. "You didn't hurt my feelings. I almost hurt you. I should have been more mindful. Besides, I can be quite intimidating. It's only natural people can be afraid of me."

Eri frowned more noticeably, sinking where she say. "You're not scary looking."

Dark Shade followed her back into the cushion. "Yes I am."

"I think you look cool." Dark Shadow enlarges only one of his eyes to make up for not having eyebrows. "You can change your shape…and you can stretch really far and…and you pick up a lot things I can't…I think you're cool."

The expression Dark Shadow was making softened and evened out as his head rose. "You think I'm cool?"

She did, but she was still uncertain of him. Afraid that he would jump on or at her. But that didn't mean there wasn't still a coolness to him, one overshadowed by his intimidating nature, one she hoped to see more often than that which startled her. For the sake of being better than that, she nodded to his question, and it seemed to liven him as much as her words would have.

Dark Shadow rose higher by the second, muttering something to himself about "how awesome he (the shade quirk used the word 'I' though) was," and only stopped when an elbow nudged him out of his thoughts. The shade and the girl turned their eyes to Tokoyami, staring at his quirk and friend silently, only to move a hand forward and pat the shadow back down to his lap.

His eye caught Eri's, and the student of Yuei sent a small smile and a wink to the young Midoriya girl. She didn't know why he did it, but she thought the gesture was nice and smiled back ever so lightly. And then the night caught up with her and she couldn't hold back the yawn that parted her lips and pushed her backwards.

Deku was there to catch her, eyes trained on her instead of the movie as they had been for a while up to then, as he eased her down to lie over his lap. He placed Eri's head against his leg for a cushion, peeling off the jacket he had kept on for the night and easing it onto her as a blanket. His hands, invisible and covered by the green gloves, rested themselves atop her gently, patting and massaging her shoulders as she snuggled up against him for a bed instead of asking for the one upstairs. Eri liked her daddy as comfort more, anyways. He was awesome like that.

* * *

 **Katsu was odd.**

Eri thought a lot of Deku's classmates were weird or quirky (uncle Mirio taught her that pun). Tooru was a girl no one could see, not even herself. Eri asked if she was copying the super hero from one of the old-old comics he showed her, but the smile and hug never answered her question. Shoji and his bat wing arms could do a lot, and the fact they could be eyes, ears, mouths and noses was creepy, and why he didn't show his own mouth was confusing. Aoyama was just always confusing (the way he acted was funny).

But the most confusing of them all was Deku's oldest friend, not by age but by time. Or according to her daddy, past friend. Katsu acted like no one else, yelling at basically everyone other than her (which she wasn't excited about but still thankful for), calling people by nicknames like she did, only more wordy and less friendly, and never really smiling. What smiles he did have were creepy and Eri didn't like them. But somehow she still liked him. Kind of.

If there was something she didn't like about Katsu, it was how he yelled at Deku. She could always see them out the window when they came back from classes, and Eri always saw his yelling directed at her daddy, and rarely anyone else. She wondered if people were familiar with the end Deku was on in their matches. Anything Katsu had to say to his closer friends were always short, while those with Deku seemed longer. It was like Katsu hated Deku.

But Eri knew that wasn't true.

The morning after the movie was a short and quick one for Eri and her daddy. They would return to the room only two weeks later, so there was little of vital importance to pack other than their clothing. The simplicity of their preparations did nothing to settle Eri's excitement of a Christmas to celebrate. The last one she could remember wasn't a pleasant one, as Chisaki and his companions mocked the celebration of such. Now she had a father and aunt (legally mother and brother) to celebrate the holidays.

Uncle Toshi had promised to drive them to auntie's apartment and that was their goal for the morning. The tall skeleton of a man would be arriving soon around the time of noon with his car sitting in wait for the travel home, all they needed was to wait for his arrival. With both their bags packed with the essentials, all that was left was to wait for the signal that the older gentleman was ready and they'd head on their way.

Deku decided to take the time telling Eri of more stories he had on hand. He still had a few hero stories on hand from when he was younger, and Eri was enticed to listen. There were many tales of All-Might, rescues he had performed frequently uploaded online for Deku to have seen, fights he had performed both in front of the camera and stories only told in writing that sounded like legends with foes to match. But Deku had many more than him with stories to tell; of Endeavor and the Assault on the Juggernauts; of Hawks and the Burning Tower in Asago; of Eraserhead and the Spider Web Bat Fight.

(Eri liked the little names Deku had for the stories. He put on a big smile and announced them like the TV shows did their titles and Eri wanted him to continue just to hear more of them.)

Down the line he had moved on to another hero, one Deku said was related to a classmate of his. "Ingenium and the Road of the Art of Hands" he called it. "They were a group of mercenaries originating from England," his story began. "The leader of their mob had been arrested prior and it was believed many men tried to flee the country, not only after his defeat but before he was arrested. Whether it was an order of the boss or the men fearing the heroes, we have never found the truth to that. But what we do know is that the men who escaped tried going everywhere. A part of the mob was found hiding away in South America; another had flown to Russia and traveled south into China just to throw off more of their trail. And the last known group came here to Japan. Only they weren't trying to hide. These men wanted to start their revolution again, be it by orders or loyalty to their boss, and slowly they recruited people here to join their cause."

Eri watched the gloved hands of her daddy as the fingers flipped up and down and the hands moved to and from each other as he told his story. The two of them were situated on the bed, with Eri in his lap and facing the way he did to rest her head against his chest. His hands worked like puppets as he shared his story, and Eri wanted to watch them intently as it went on so she could imagine it for herself.

"When they thought they had enough members, they took to the streets and eventually a national highway before setting up a blockade to announce themselves and what they wanted to do. They had taken hostage many families and individuals still in their cars, and the sheer amount of villains they had gathered together had scared even some of the heroes who were being called in to help save them." Izuku put his hands together, one behind the other with his palms facing the both of them and his fingers curled down just enough to cast small shadows down into his hands, and with even more thanks to the scrunching of the gloves' fabric. "But the first hero to arrive at the call for help was the Turbo Hero, Ingenium." One hand moved to the left, fingers still curled and facing to the right, where Izuku's hand held up one, straightened finger, standing tall under the light.

"Ingenium had heard the call for help and made his way to the scene as fast as he could, thanks to his quirk, the engines on his arms. Just rushing in alone he disarmed and knocked out three of the villains." Izuku took his lone finger and jab at his other hand several fast times, Eri jumped backwards into Deku from surprise. The body over her shifted slightly as Eri felt Deku's head and face press into her hair for a moment before rising. She sunk into his lap as his hands stood opposing one another again. The great hero Ingenium was alone at the scene, up against a horde of villains, and instead of demanding for a ransom and a deal the apparent leader of this group ordered as many men as he could to take down the pro hero. You know how many succeeded?"

Eri shook her head, looking up at her daddy as she did, and received a smile directed right at her before looking to his hands again, drawing her eyes back down to them too. "Not." Deku jabbed his index finger into one of his curled fingers, and in doing so brought the finger all the way down to his palm. "A." He did it again. "Single." And again. "One." And again. Until all that was left was the thumb, with his hand now turned, sitting bent at the top. The index finger of the opposing hand towered close and over it, imposing power over the thumb. "Until all that was left was the boss himself, and the hero Ingenium standing opposite of him with all the other villains out cold from his assault."

"Does the boss try to fight too?" Eri asked, eyes darting between the two fingers.

Izuku nodded, unbeknownst to her. "He wanted to, but not on even terms. Instead, the boss tried to run away," Izuku moved his thumb away from his other hand, "and take a person as a direct hostage to use against Ingenium." Eri gasped dramatically, earning a small laugh from Deku. She had done some genuinely with the earlier stories, but every story had a turn like that and Deku seemed to like it when she did it, so she only continued to do so just to hear him laugh. "But he wasn't fast enough to do so. Before he could reach to the driver of the nearest car, Ingenium had already dashed forward and grabbed the villain by his wrist, announcing, 'If you—"

A ring from beside them cut through Deku's words and turned both heads down to the ringing, vibrating, and glowing cellphone sitting beside them. Deku snatched it up immediately, flicking it open and holding it to his ear as he answered the call. Eri watched him as he nodded and responded, catching his eyes and smile and the hand that came up to pet her hair as he continued the call. He only looked away when he finished talking, hanging up on the other end and sliding his phone into his pocket. His eyes trailed over the bags they had prepared before meeting with Eri's once more to widen his smile.

"Uncle Toshi is ready to go," he informed her. "Ready to go?" Eri nodded, allowing Deku to lift her out of his lap and carry her off the bed so they could walk together. Deku let Eri take the lead, Eri holding her Cleffa doll as Deku held both bags in either hand as they left the room and took the stairs down to exit together. But someone else was down there.

The duo stopped at the bottom step and stared ahead at the blond brute that was Deku's classmate. Bakugou stared dead on at his classmate and the young girl in silence for a few seconds before rising to his feet. His hand swiped to the object beside him, big and round, and he clutched it as he made way to the two at the stairs. Both had tensed as he approached, but it was Eri who eased first as she noticed what it was the loud and strong classmate of Deku was carrying.

Deku gulped as his oldest friend stopped in front of them. "K-Kacchan…" But the other boy only spared a second of a look at him before dropping his eyes to the girl between them.

Eri didn't notice the eyes on her for a moment, still staring at the large pink object in the older boy's hand. When she looked up she found red eyes staring back into hers, and watched as Katsu's face scrunched for a moment before holding his hand and the doll in it out to the girl. "Merry Christmas," came out of his lips like a grumble, but Eri didn't take any mind to it as she took the Clefairy doll into her arms. Her head jumped up and down between the doll and the teen who gave it to here before she took one doll in each hand and ran into his legs for a hug she could manage. Katsu stood stiff as she did, not crouching down to return it or moving his hands to pat her or pry her off. He just stood silent, accepted it, and watched her as she let go many seconds later.

Deku stood watching with blank eyes and an open mouth, blinking as he processed the scene before him, and as he moved his mouth to comment it shut just as fast. Katsu walked past him, hand raised from knocking Deku on the head. "Don't say anything, Deku," he mumbled as he passed back up the steps. "And stop wearing those gloves. You look stupid."

Deku dropped a bag and rubbed the top of his head as he watched Katsu leave up the stairs, muttering to himself about why he was waiting on the couch to give Eri the doll. And thinking that reminded him to look at the young girl he came down with who had ignored the confrontation between the two and was trying to find a way to hold both dolls at the same time. Deku helped her, taking both bags in one arm and convincing Eri to let him hold the smaller Cleffa doll so she could carry around her newest toy.

The two took again to the door, leaving Deku to open it to the settled cold air without its breeze and the trail between the piles of snow they were to follow to get home. Eri stood with the doll clutched between her arms, snuggling against it for warmth against the freezing air. Deku stood by her for a moment, using the hand holding the doll o help flip up the hood of her jacket, covering her hair with the purple fabric. "Eri," his voice came from above her, turning her head up to look at him. He smiled softly. "Do you want to hear the rest of the story?" She blinked for a moment in thought before nodding, almost throwing the hood off her head.

Deku continued to smile, placing the doll and hand he had around her and puller her by his side, both facing forward to the trail. "Before the villain could get the woman who was driving out of the car, Ingenium appeared beside him, grabbing his wrist and announcing, 'If you're looking for someone to help you, don't worry. Helping is exactly what I'm here to do'."

Eri took one of her hands and clutched the base of his jacket as he did her shoulder and walked beside Deku, letting him lead the way to Uncle Toshi and his car. Her head fell to the side, leaning on her shoulder and his side. The hand on her shoulder raised just for a moment, and Eri could feel his thumb gently press on the hood and slide down the side of her head. Eri knew what her daddy was here to do.

And Eri knew uncle Katsu was wrong and Deku wasn't stupid.


	8. 1-8

**Hello ladies and gentlemen, and welcome back to the story that I write short story-length chapters for because it makes me feels something on the inside to put so much into one piece.**

 **On my own side, I've had problems getting back into writing along side all the writing homework I've gotten, along with using my free time for writing and not gaming or relaxing. Decided it was high time I get back to this stuff while I have the chance, and that meant working out this chapter. I've been writing this in segments all over the place for the past few weeks to make sure everything goes the way I'd like it to. Most of the middle content was written last, but that's beside the point. We have another 12k words for you to read, so enjoy that.**

 **I'm going to go at things differently, again, because I can't stick to a plan for the life of me. I'm going to stay on this story for a while, writing out chapter after chapter until their first year of school is over. I will write until graduation and then a chapter or two after to prepare for their second year content. They'll essentially be written in 'books' because of the content change and focus for characters within their three years are going to be different, so each story is going to read with a heavy emphasis on one subject more than the rest without completely dropping everything. It's just what I have in mind, and this chapter is a good place to start for what is left of year one. Some nice, wholesome bonding time, with my twists of explanations to several things that I'll spoil somewhat with the responses to reviews.**

 **Speaking of which, since I have so little left to say, let me cover those since the last chapter was put in.**

 **LilTeddyUrsa: Okay this was something I thought of for a moment, taking in what I know and remember and can find in the canon and putting a bit of a twist on it without changing what story is already given. That being said, we know a good amount of Eri's immediate family. Her father is dead, her mother abandoned her, and her grandfather was all she had left before Chisaki took over. With this story, Eri has less memory of everything predeceasing her entrance to Chisaki's 'care' which would include her family, with small parts during her days with the Precepts being suppressed as well. The feelings she can't explain, though, are still there. A father who loved her till his dying breath is now given a face and new life in Izuku. Someone to be by his side has been hard to find and figure out, given the abandonment with the second parent. That left her with one last person, a grandparent, someone who did still love her and that she can't seem to replace with anyone she meets. That's why Inko is called the aunt and Toshinori the uncle. I do plan on making that a scene in the future, to go over it somewhat like that, but I don't see it being to immersion ruining to explain that right now.**

 **Classy J0K3R: Everyone is. That's the beauty of it.**

 **Anonymous Person (I'll address all three comments in this one paragraph): With Mei, the idea is you think you understand her after the first day, until you get to the second day for that to flip on its head until the third and fourth and fifth day before you realize she's just kinda on the wall at all seconds of the day. Caffeine's a hell of a drug. Bakugou is somewhat the same, though with more moments of subtlety and subdued emotions than the mechanic. Depending on the time around him will determine response time. Toga: okay, so, the short story idea i had in mind that grew to something longer wasn't taking what's in canon and writing from there, building off the establishment. It would have been more like Pro Hero Metal Bat, the other story I have up, where I rewrite the scenarios early on to change Himiko into someone pushed into heroics by Izuku himself, growing up and being around her. There's a few stories who play with them having a childhood relationship in different ways, and this would have been one with Izuku morally and vocally and physically having Toga's back into keeping her happy and becoming a hero beside him. I want to follow something alone those lines, but that will have to wait for another day.**

 **Chopper911 and clockworkreaper: Thank you for your words and support. I assure you I have no intention of stopping this story. I just needed some time to jump back on the bandwagon and into the mood of making sure this chapter was everything I wanted it to be.**

 **Thank you to all who favor and follow this story, for being patient with me and my shitty uploading expectations of which I demand you stop having for your better health. I'll do my best for two or three more chapters before the year ends. Four depending on word count. Do enjoy the newest chapter and leave a review if you have anything you want to say. Thank you, again, for everything.**

* * *

Izuku thought he shouldn't have been surprised Eri didn't wake up earlier than him and shake him awake at the sight of the other side of the room, but when he woke up to find his little sister still fast asleep against his chest, he was surprised nonetheless. He didn't wake her up, though, instead opting to let her sleep continue until she woke up by herself. A hand rose to her hair, tracing the strands lightly and brushing them behind her ears. She hummed, hands clutching at the doll stuffed close to her chin. Izuku chuckled as a foot tapped against his knee and the girl rolled onto her back, stuffed Cleffa trapped between her arms as droll slipped from the corner of her lips.

He turned his attention away from the girl to the desk, and the small tree with wrapped boxes stacked beside it. The apartment he and his mother called home wasn't exactly the biggest, and buying a full-sized tree for the winter season and its holiday wasn't an option they ever had. They didn't have the space (or the moral) to fit one in their living room or their kitchen, but there was spirit enough to get one for Izuku; a small one they could sit atop his desk and lay the presents around to celebrate Christmas. To let young Izuku celebrate Christmas. Small in scale, big in the emotions they stirred in his heart, especially as the years passed by. Once he had been accepted into Yuei, he did spend a day or two in class to ponder on what Christmas would be like having the people around him that he did. People who weren't shunning him from their lives. He wasn't necessarily expecting piles of presents, or any at all, but knowing he would have something of high emotion to return to after a winter break of equally high emotions was reassuring.

Izuku didn't know when his hand had moved to cup the top of Eri's head, but when her eyes fluttered open she became his center of attention once again. His thumb moved slowly along her hairline and his mouth stayed shut as she took her time readjusting to both the real world and the room she wasn't too familiar sleeping in, with posters she was _all too familiar_ with seeing back at the dorms. The knuckles of her free hand rubbed against her eyes and brushed away their tired self and turned her head slightly to find the face watching her.

Izuku smiled his greeting. "Good morning, Eri," his voice came out softly. "Merry Christmas." The young girl only groaned in response, closing her eyes again and turning back to press her face into Izuku's shirt, a muffled "Good morning" of her own hidden somewhere in the fabric. He pet her hair, following from the top of her head and cupping it along to trail down her back, and could feel as her head nuzzled against his chest, ducking away under the bedsheet.

"Still tired?" He chuckled to the nod ruffling his shirt. "It's only a bit until 8, Eri. Mom might be up already and cooking breakfast for us." Against her will, Izuku pulled the covers away, exposing Eri to the air of the room. She still tried to hide away against his shirt. "And I think you have something waiting for you." Hesitantly she rose her head to his, and he gestured with his chin across the room, guiding Eri's eyes until she caught sight of the stacks of boxes beside the desk and tree. Tiredness dissipated as her eyes widened, head flicking back to the teen boy who nodded to her unspoken question. She flailed out of the boy's grip and hopped off the bed before dashing across the room to crouch by the presents wrapped for the holiday.

Izuku joined soon after, plopping down to her side as her eyes darted from gift to gift, reading over the name tags addressed them and Inko. The small gasps she made at the size of some gifts, the awe in her eyes towards the ones directed to her, how her hands clasped and unclasped by her sides as she debated which to open first; it was an adorable sight to see, for Izuku. It was the first Christmas they would be spending together. Maybe the first she had ever had, for all he knew. Her life beforehand still remained undetailed aside from what he had been there to experience and hear other outsiders comment on. How long she had been with the Precepts was unclear, the origins of her blood family impossible to detail, and what days were like when she wasn't being used for her blood vague at best and disheartening at worst. Seeing her still smile for what Izuku believed was the first Christmas she would remember was the light at the end of the tunnel of baggage she left Chisaki with. Pushing past those thoughts and days were all he wanted to do with and for her.

"Can I…" Eri hummed, closing the space between her hands below her chin and turning to look at the green teen. "Can I open one?"

Izuku hummed with her, dipping the corners of his smile as he looked to the closed bedroom door. "I think you can open one," he responded. A finger rose between them. "But only one. I think mom would want to be here to see you and I open the rest, and get to open her own as well." Eri nodded feverously in understanding, turning back to the pile and grabbing the closest present that stood almost half her height.

Izuku watched as she tore away the decorated paper to reveal the bland cardboard box it covered, before throwing open the top flaps and gasping in probably over-exaggerated delight as her hands dove inside. As they flew back out, they carried between them a detailed, humanoid action figure of black, red and yellow, covered in tiny drills and a pair of red, sharp sunglasses over the chest, resting on the face that made up its torso. Eri hugged the figurine to her chest, wrapping her arms with extra care not to poke herself or the knee-low Hawks shirt she was wearing.

"I got Gurren Lagann," she whispered in excitement, locking her eyes on the toy and gently moving about its limbs to test just how much she was able to play with it. Every movement it could make elicited another squeak from her lips, and only grew Izuku's smile wider each time.

"I take it you're happy with it, Eri?" The girl bounced her head in an almost blur to Izuku's question, and the teen turned his attention to the pile of ripped wrapping. "Do you know who sent it to you?"

The young girl paused her playtime, truly turning her attention to Izuku before dragging it slowly to her shoulder and the pile of paper she tossed to the floor. Izuku stayed silent as she lowered her new toy to stand in her lap as the other hand shuffled slowly through the gift wrappings. She looked at the Santa drawings on one ripped piece, and then on another, and then another before it occurred to Izuku that Eri might not know what exactly to look for. Still in silence, Izuku crawled over and dived through the wrappings with her until he found the folded white paper taped on to a scrap.

"Oh, Momo," Izuku read aloud, turning the card's writing for Eri to see. "You do remember who she is, right? I know you haven't spent the most time actually around her and getting to know her name, but it seems Yaoyorozu trusts you enough with her first name instead of her family's."

Eri nodded again. "Momo's the big girl—" Eri threw a hand up to the air, palm facing back down to herself before rolling back behind her head "—with the long hair tail."

"You mean ponytail?" Izuku questioned, a smirk on his face directed to Eri's choice of words. The girl shook her head, dipping the corners of Izuku's grin—

"Momo isn't the pony girl at school." Only for them to come right back up with a sputter of laughter. Izuku recomposed his expression behind an arm as Eri watched, confused as to what was so funny when she knew she was right in her declaration.

"No, Eri, that's—" Izuku coughed into the crook of his arm. "Eri, that hairstyle is called a pony tail. I don't mean an actual tail like Tsunotori's." The young girl in front of him parted her lips in a 'oh' and tilted her head back in exaggeration of understanding. The green teen stifled another laugh as she drew out the reaction, leaning further and further back where she sat until her back pressed against the carpet floor. Izuku took a look to the pool of hair around Eri's head. The girl stayed lying down, tilting her new toy to lie on top of her as she continued to play with it. "Do you want your hair in a ponytail today?"

Eri hummed as she played, spinning the drills on the toy mecha's arms without twisting them off. "No," she responded. Her head turned over, brushing her face into the pillow of white locks she had made. "I like it this way."

Izuku dropped down beside her, startling the girl at his sudden appearance and the heavy sound that came with him hitting the floor. "I'll be honest, I do too." He nudged his head closer, pressing his own face into the rest of her hair until his nose was against her forehead. "You know, it is very comfy right here. I could probably just lay here the rest of the day."

Eri giggled and shook as she rolled her body over more to face his. "You can't sleep a whole day, daddy," she responded in her laughs.

"I can try," Izuku spoke against her hair. One arm draped over her and her new toy, moving her closer to him and vice versa. "Maybe we can sleep the whole day and when we wake up tomorrow we'll just have to celebrate Christmas all over again. It'll be like having two Christmases." The audible gasp from Eri made him laugh too, and the "Really?" she spoke with in her breath had him nodding. "Who knows? Guess we just have to sleep to find out. You up for the challenge?" A small hand made its way to grasp onto his shirt and pull her and the new toy against his chest. "I'll take that as a yes."

Izuku slid his other arm underneath her, letting the young girl use his muscles as a pillow as his arm and the extra cloth of his shirt make-shifted as a blanket. He gave a peek to her face, seeing her eyes closed to show just how committed she was to the idea of a second Christmas. His eyes closed too, pinching together as the corners of his lips pushed his cheeks up against his eyelids. All that remained of sound was their soft breathing and the weather gently beating against the window of his bedroom and the creaking out in the hall of his bedroom door.

The knock his door was given was soft, and Izuku dared to lift his head and eyelids to look over as his mother peeked her head in. "Izuku? Eri? Are you awa—Oh!" Inko softened her voice as she took notice of the cuddled bodies on the floor of the room. "Izuku? Is everything alright?"

Her son nodded, blowing a soft wind through his teeth attempting to quiet the mother. "We're sleeping in so that way Christmas can't start yet, so it can start tomorrow and we can have Christmas morning again," Izuku explained in a hushed voice, only to be given the same shushing treatment from the girl in his arms blowing wind through her teeth up at him. "Sorry. Wanna join us?"

Inko chuckled softly into the palm of her hand, giving the two kids a look over before speaking again. "I would love to, but I've just finished making breakfast and was coming in to see if you two were ready to eat? I thought some pancakes would sound nice for a Christmas breakfast, don't they?"

After a moment of thought, Izuku nodded and looked down to the girl in his arms as she attempted to sleep. "Eri, I know we were about to bend space and time to our will so Christmas would forever be ours, but would you like to save that for a later date and have pancakes instead?"

He could feel the rumbling of her hums against his chest signaling the decisions being made in her head until he felt confirmation and saw the red of her eyes gleam up to him. "With blueberries?" came her question in a whisper. Izuku looked to his mother and repeated the question for her to hear.

Inko smiled and nodded to the two kids. "Blueberry pancakes, like you asked yesterday. I remembered." She tapped a finger to her head for emphasis, before adding, "And I think there is something for you in the stocking in the living room, if you want to see it, too."

Izuku made sure to lift his head as Eri darted up, action figure still in hand, and darted out the room past their mother, her short shouts of glee trailing behind her. Son smiled at mother and informer her he'd be right behind, and Inko left after Eri sounding off in happy cheers down the hall. Slowly he picked the rest of himself off the floor, swaying as he stood on his feet. He looked over and scanned the other presents with his eyes, taking note of which boxes were addressed to him, which were listed for Eri, and which were listed for his mother. In the corner atop a box with a sticker labeled with his mother's name was an envelope. Izuku took a closer look at the writing atop it before taking the envelope altogether.

He knew the penmanship on the front, with the address of their apartment across the front, and a smaller font of words written at the top so it could be returned to America. He knew the name of the sender and the feeling in his stomach reading it in his head gave him. He knew exactly what was going to be on the letter inside. The only thing he didn't know was why he kept sending anything.

Izuku's fingers curled under the edges of the flap on the back, tugging gently to peel it open, but he stopped short. He wanted to see the money he sent them. He wanted to see the words of good wishes he supposedly wrote in repetition. He wanted to see if he even knew about Eri, of his technically step-daughter. But he didn't open it.

His wrist flicked the letter back onto the present and he watched it slide across the top before coming to a stop thanks to the ribbon on top. The hand he flicked stayed where it was last, and he looked over the scar that wrapped around his knuckles and palm. He turned to his desk, opened the highest shelf, pulled from it the thin green gloves and snapped them over his hands. His fingers flexed a moment before he stuffed them in the pockets of his shorts and turned out his room, knocking the light off with his elbow and leaving the lights of the tree to illuminate the name of Hisashi Kasokyū.

* * *

Aoyama and Mina stole the show, dancing across the table from one another to the music Kaminari set up for the night. Uraraka, Sero, Kirishima and Mineta cheered from the couch with the electric-generating boy and sulking explosive boy as the bright boy and alien girl tried one-upping the other to each verse and chorus and beat. A separate couch holding the quartet of Shoji, Jirou, Momo and Iida watched on further away, short conversation happening between the four, directed at the crew of seven in their small party. Tokoyami, Asui and Hagakure took station at the window by the door watching the snow fall and waiting and planning which show of fireworks to watch when the New Year started. Izuku didn't watch any of them from his place beside the kitchen with Eri and Sato.

Izuku chuckled to himself, watching the young girl chomp into her candy apple piece by piece. She didn't take any big bites in; she just sunk her teeth and scraped away small amount of caramel until the apple underneath showed itself and she could nibble away at that too. Izuku took a napkin from across the common room counter and rubbed across her cheek to clean away some of the caramel that hadn't made it with the rest. The young girl smiled up at her older brother as thanks before digging back into her treat, and smiled back and continued to watch in his silence.

"Well isn't this the most tooth-rotting scene I've seen all break." Satou's comment among the commotion around the common area and across the counter to draw Izuku and Eri's eyes up to him. The sugar-quirked boy ignored the brightening cheeks of the super powered teen as he continued to top and decorate the five-layered cake in front of him. "Keep it up and my quirk will be active 24/7 for the next two years we have together."

Izuku let out a strained chuckle and rubbed his gloved hands against the sleeves of his blue turtleneck. "Yeah—it—we—yeah," he stuttered out, nodding along his words. "Well, actually that wouldn't be a good thing, given its whiplash effect on your nerves. It's a good thing your body shuts down manually so you don't hurt yourself any more than you push yourself already. Same with your quirk. It would be bad if it didn't have a manual off switch that is you being conscious or not. Or does it continue to work when you're unconscious? Does it keep you asleep longer, the more sugar you intake? Does it stop at a certain point when you're not consciously using it or continuing to fuel it? If the sugar causes degradation on your mind and senses when you intake sugar, how do you reimburse that loss to be able to use your quirk again? Does your body have a natural function to regrow any lost or depleted tissue and brain cognition? Does xylitol intake reduce the effects and regrow your cognitive abilities sooner than naturally?"

Satou, Eri and Sero watched as together as Izuku's chin fell into his hands and his being fell into a storm of muttering and pondering. Another several seconds of his mumbling passed before Satou turned on Sero with a hand darting onto the counter top. "How long have you been here?" he asked the tape-making boy over the music and the laughter, turning even Eri's attention away from the thought-filled green teenager.

"Oh I've been here for like two minutes." Sero shrugged and kept his eyes on Izuku. "But watching him go on like this is timeless."

Satou squinted at the other boy as he leaned away and back to the half-decorated cake. "Alright, just don't get lost in his eyes there, chief."

"Don't tempt me." Eri looked between the two bantering boys, nibbling away the last bit of the first quarter of her apple. Most of their words went over her head, both in meaning and in height as their conversation carried on. After a while it became as gibberish as the words from the partying teens behind her, so she turned herself back to facing Izuku. He continued sprouting words that thinned between his fingers that she barely got to hear but she didn't mind or turn her eyes away from the sides of his. He must have noticed her trained stare, as he toned down his muttering and lowered his hands and turned in and with his seat to face the young girl facing him.

"What is it, Eri?" Izuku questioned, leaning down and forward closer to the girl.

The young girl lowered her candy apple, revealing her slightly parted lips and the small caramel streak along her cheek. "I'm lost in your eyes."

Izuku blinked, jaw dropping as color rose up from his neck, and a whistle sounded from the peanut gallery of the two boys watching. "Guess I warned the wrong person," Satou muttered out the corner of his mouth to Sero. The latter curled onto the counter in laughter, darting the eyes of Izuku to the two boys and Eri, trying to form a sentence to ask what he had missed. Eri didn't answer as the sugar boy and tape boy explained to Izuku what they were talking about while he was in his zone, instead doing her best to carefully and discreetly climb from her chair onto Izuku's and sit in his lap. The green teen helped her over regardless, wrapping an arm around her to keep her seated between his legs while also keeping his attention on the other boy's words.

"Also, Midoriya," – Satou turned the conversation when the boy in question was caught up and pointed a finger at him – "you know what xylitol is?"

Izuku blinked and nodded hastily. "Y-yeah, I looked it up when I was training to get into Yuei," he started. "My…instructor didn't put it on my plan, but I was supposed to be eating more and healthier to get in Yuei, and I looked up if there was a product opposite of sugar, and I came across that and looked into having gum of it when I was doing my homework."

"Where did you get it?" Satou leaned with a hand pressed against the counter top. "I have been trying to find anywhere that sells that gum, and I just can't. And it is way too overpriced trying to buy a box of it online."

"Oh, there's a convenience store close by where I went to school before coming here." Izuku pressed his fingers into Eri's side, curling her into his stomach with giggles hiding in her candy apple. "It's all the way back in Musutafu, though. I'm pretty sure I know the address of it though, so I can give you that to go to when you have the time."

"That would be great, thank you."

"Wait, is there actually an opposite of sugar?" Sero whipped his head between the two teens. "Is that possible?"

"It technically is," Satou explained, cutting Midoriya before he could speak it off and leaving the green teen to turn his eyes on Eri as she tried turning in his lap. "It's mainly the opposite of sugar that it won't rot your teeth. But with how my quirk intakes raw sugar and sugary foods, I've been meaning to find and practice with xylitol to see if it keeps me steady in hero work."

"Huh." Sero crossed his arms and leaned against the counter top. "Would that work, though? I thought your quirk only takes in sugar as the compound to power. How would you get another element, I guess, to work on your quirk?"

"Xylitol is labeled as a sugar substitute," Izuku cut back in, eyes kept on Eri as he talked. "It's only a hypothesis that quirks can be tricked into working inversely or unnaturally, but given that it's sugar that gives Satou super strength, despite what it does for most everyone else, to believe its supposed polar opposite could reduce the after effects of his quirk or even weaken the whiplash in the moment of using his quirk isn't out of the real of possibilities."

Sero blinked slowly, turned his head to Satou for a minute to look at him, and turned back to Izuku when he was done. "Alright, can you say that again but in smaller words so I know what you're talking about?"

"No." Satou was the one to answer, turning his back to the two boys to finish decorating the cake. Sero threw out both his arms and furrowed his eyebrows to the sugar-powered boy.

"Iida does it, kind of," Izuku piped back up, looking a moment to Sero before turning to the teen he mentioned. "Iida…" Both he and Sero blinked at the sight across the room and the dance off between Uraraka and Ashido, to Iida and Shoji standing locked in a competition of who could speak with the most absurd hand gestures behind their words. Momo was still seated on the couch, a hand loosely in front of her mouth to hide the grin still visible in her eyes, but Jirou had slid off and fallen from the couch, face pressed into the taller girl's leg to conceal the laughter behind her shaking body.

Izuku turned away and back to Sero, who with Eri continued to watch the two games in the room. "Iida drinks a lot of orange juice, and it actually helps his quirk function better between uses. Despite the fact engines don't run on orange juice, Iida can't actually drink oil. His quirk just functions off a different source for its power and continues to work. Like Satou with super strength induced by sugar. Only Iida isn't looking for something else to either trick his quirk into assuming it's the same source of power, only for the outcome and effect to not be what usually happens."

Sero sighed through his teeth and turned to Izuku with a tired look. "You had me, only to lose me. But I think I get it, so thank you."

"Any time."

"No please don't."

Before Izuku could form a response to that, Satou called out that the cake was done, which turned every head in the room to him and brought most the class stampeding to the line between the kitchen and the carpet. Satou held them back like cattle, leaving Tsuyu, Tokoyami, Momo, Shoji and Iida to stand by where Izuku and Sero sat watching the chaos. The vice and president of Class 1-A shared a sigh into their hands as they tried to calm down their classmates' hunger. It was Shoji who was able to calm them down, though, talking over them with an elongated arm and turning on the TV with another to one of the broadcast presentations getting ready for the firework shows in 5 minutes.

The class scrambled to their spots, Satou and Momo working together to cut everyone a slice of their own. Izuku kept Eri clutched to his chest, his eyes closed as she kept hers wide open watching the madness of her brother/father's classmates. The candy apple stayed clutched to her cheek and she sunk into Izuku's arms and lap, hiding away even as he turned down the offer for a slice of cake. As the Midoriya's stayed seated on the stools, everyone else took place along the couches and tables watching the TV and the reporter waiting with the countdown clock.

Izuku ran a hand through Eri's hair, rubbing gently the top of her scalp with his fingers, easing her and himself as the countdown reached the minute mark. When it did, Izuku turned Eri on his lap, making it better that she could face him directly. The young girl looked up to him with wonder, but Izuku gave no reply as both his hands cupped the top of her head and he gave her a smile.

"It's going to be a bit loud, Eri," he whispered to her. "Will you be okay with that?"

She nodded, holding the candy apple in front of her face with a grip so tight her knuckles were matching the stick between them. His hands overlapped hers, gently, letting them ease their hold as the reporter announced the thirty second mark. The clock continued to count as Izuku lowered his head onto Eri's, softly kissing the top as it reached ten seconds. The young girl giggled for nine and eight, reached higher for seven and six, nuzzled her caramel-covered lips and cheek against for five and four, getting them both to laugh for three two and one before Izuku cupped his hands beneath Eri's shoulders and lifted her up with but a small amount of his quirk as the clock struck and his classmates cheered with the crowd on TV to the fireworks above them.

Eri came back down to his lap with a smile and laughter, issuing Izuku some of his own in return as she settled into sitting once again. With her back to him again, leaning on him and nibbling away at what was still left of the apple in her hands, Izuku leaned down and whispered her a "Happy New Year" that she returned just as softly.

Letting her be, Izuku looked around the common room, to his classmates still hugging and cheering on their first New Year's together, despite the few missing and at home with their families. "Next year will lock everyone here," he heard one of his classmates promise. The shared happiness and warmth of his friends fueled the smile still on his face, until his eyes came across a pair of red staring back at him.

Katsuki didn't look at him for long, only keeping the shared eye contact for a few seconds before returning to his slice of cake quietly. Kirishima, Kaminari, Ashido, Tooru and Sero cheered with one another the New Year and the start to their last semester of the first year at Yuei, but Katsuki did nothing but watch. A small comment Izuku couldn't hear was made when Kirishima directed a question at him that also wasn't clear enough to understand from across the room. When he was done eating, Katsuki stood with his fork and plate and left, telling the few he was with he was going upstairs to do something for a bit and he'd be back later. None of them questioned it, but Izuku watched as Katsuki hesitated when he threw away his trash. His ruby eyes turned to his emeralds once more before turning with the rest of his body up the stairwell.

Izuku watched his retreat a moment, only to be taken out of ponderings to what Katsuki was looking at him for when Eri tugged on his sleeve. She handed him the remains of her candy apple, asking if there was a way to save what was left so she could eat it later. Izuku promised just that, taking the apple and leaving her on the seat as he put it in a plastic container to wait within the fridge. When he returned they to resituate in their spot, ready to relax and watch the communion of the class.

Until a buzz came from his pocket and Izuku checked to see the message on his phone.

– _I want to talk. I'll be on the roof._

Izuku blinked at Katsuki's text. His eyes rolled to the stairwell he had ascended moments ago. Then they moved to the crowd of his classmates, still chattering and laughing among one another as they watched the fireworks on TV and ate their cake. Izuku was the only one on his phone. He lowered the device to his hip, on the other side of where Eri faced. He wrapped an arm around her to keep her facing that way as he replied.

 _Can Eri come with me? –_

He bit his lip as he waited and rocked slightly in the shared seat, earning a small fit of giggles and Eri leaned back against his chest and wrapped both her arms around his one. He hugged her tighter and pressed his fingers to her side to increase her laughter and giggles, and only looked away from the squirming child in his arm when his phone buzzed.

– _No. Just you._

The rocking and the tickling stopped as he stared at the text. His thumb hovered over the screen to text again, but it stopped short of the first letter. Eri wiggled in his arm and he slackened his grip so she could reposition herself on his lap.

Why did Katsuki want to talk on the roof, and now of all times? They hadn't even talked with one another that night, just the glance before the blonde boy had left to 'do something.' Was he up to something? Was there a surprise waiting for him? That didn't seem right or fit with the time. Not like they had anything memorable with the other about New Years before. This was the first one they celebrated together, on the date. Was it a surprise for Eri? Was that why she couldn't come along? Is that why no one thought anything of Katsuki's leave? Was everyone in on it? A surprise celebration for her first New Year's celebration with the class family?

The first feeling in his gut didn't have him believe that.

The second feeling was just Eri poking him for attention.

Izuku turned away from his phone and looked down to the young girl looking up at him. Her bright red eyes shone with questions, none of which she asked aloud. Her hands pressed against him through the shirt and her head tilted down towards his other hand and the phone in it. He pressed the device against his leg and slid it about until it was back in his pocket and used the diversion to lower his own head and plant a soft kiss on the top of Eri's. That brought her attention back up to him and his small smile.

"Uncle Katsu wants to talk with me for a bit," he whispered to her, bringing his now free hand to join the first one in hugging her closer. "But he wants to talk alone. Would you be alright if I go for a few minutes to do that?"

Eri blinked at him with a frown on her face and a tilt of her head. "What does he want to talk about?" she muttered back, only slightly louder than Izuku but not enough that it caught attention, or more worrisome, suspicion.

Izuku gulped and licked his lips. "He did…Usually," he started, eyes darting about her face to look at anything other than her own eyes, "on New Year's, Kacchan and I share our wishes and promises for the New Year. It's a…tradition of ours that we started when we were younger. He likes doing it, but he doesn't like doing it around other people. He's a bit shy, isn't he?" He put on a small, empty smile he hoped she'd buy, and she did when nodding to his question. "I'll only be with him for a few minutes or so, and then I'll come right back down. Is that alright?"

Eri hummed and curled her head down to her chin, puffing out her cheeks with a huff. Despite the less-than-happy expression she wore, she nodded against his shirt. He sighed and kissed the top of her head again. "I promise I'll come right back to you when we're done. We can do what you want until we sleep, okay?" Izuku received another nod against his chest and a small surprise as her arms tried their best to wrap around his chest in a hug.

Izuku smiled and rose his head as he hugged back, and came to meet Jirou's eyes close by. The ear-jacked girl blinked as her hands moved and pushed a second slice of cake onto her plate as quietly as she could. "Hey," she drew out quietly, to the point where Izuku almost didn't hear her over the other chatter.

"Uh, hey," he responded just as quietly. "Sorry, didn't notice you there."

"No, it's fine." Kyoka waved his concern away. "I wasn't trying to get your attention, just watching." The green boy blinked at her and the two gained red as her words sunk in. "I mean, I thought you and Eri looked sweet." She growled to herself, the fork in her hand twitching with her fingers. "God, this sounds creepy any way I put it."

"I-it's fine, Kyoka," Izuku informed her with a flustered wave of his hand. "I understand what you mean. You don't have to keep trying."

The purple-haired girl bowed her head with a sigh. "Sorry about that, Midoriya. Didn't mean to freak you out with that."

"No, no, it's fine, I promise." The green teen gave off a nervous laugh. "I-I get what…Hey, can I ask something of you? I'm sorry that I am."

"I'll take an apology after I know what it is." Jirou rose head eyes back up to him. "What do you need?"

"Can you watch over Eri for me, for a little while?" The young girl in question lifted her head at mention of her name, turning to the teen girl who lowered her eyes down to hers. "I kinda have to go upstairs and do something for a bit, and I didn't want to have to run up and leave her on her own. I trust her, and I trust all you guys, but I'd rather someone knows why I won't be around for a couple of minutes, so if it isn't too much to ask—"

"Yeah I'll take her," Kyoka cut him off. She walked away from the cake and around the counter, taking up the seat beside the Midoriyas. "It's fine with me, dude. Don't worry about it?"

"You sure?" She gave a nod to Izuku's question, to which he bowed his head. "Thank you. Here you go, Eri." The young girl was hoisted into his arms as he dropped from the seat and set her in his place. Eri situated herself comfortably and looked up at Izuku. "I'll be right back, Eri. Couple of minutes, I promise."

The little girl gave no words of a response, and instead surprised both teens beside her by holding her hand up to Izuku with only her pinky finger sticking out. He blinked at it a moment before smiling softly and wrapping his own gloved pinky around hers. It got a smile to cover her face, too, so he was happy about that. He kissed her temple one last time, thank Kyoka again and swerved around the back of the common room and traversed up the stairwell. Once on the next floor he let his smile drop and his hand drop into his pocket and pull out his phone.

 _I'm on my way._ –

* * *

Opening the door to the roof, Izuku was hit by a gust of cold wind. He shivered, using his foot to keep the door open while his hands brushed along his arms to stay warm. The snow stayed back thanks to the patio-cover awning connected above the door and the lone lamp light between them. Said light stayed solid in illuminating the space in front of him, shining on the snow bank building along most of the roof's surface area, and shining on the back of Katsuki sitting and facing the edge of the snow bank.

Izuku lowered beside Katsuki, crossing his legs and facing the same direction the blond did. Said boy blinked a look in Izuku's direction before focusing back on the dark, snowing sky, unaffected by the lamp hanging above the door behind them.

Izuku fidgeted his thumbs against one another, looking back and forth between the yin-yang horizon and his first friend. He gulped and rolled his tongue in his mouth before it opened. "Kaccha—"

"Don't." Katsuki's interjection cut Izuku short. The latter blinked, surprised at the soft tone the word came with. "Don't talk. Just...just listen for now, alright?" Izuku nodded slowly, and the deepening frown of Katsuki gave away that he saw it. He looked away a moment, the back of his head facing Izuku as he looked over the side of the horizon, and all Izuku could notice was the tensing of Katsuki's neck as he gulped and turned back forward. "Why didn't you jump?"

The question froze Izuku faster than the pelting cold around them could, widening the boys eyes and gaping his mouth. He tried stumbling out a word, and only made a sound incomprehensible to both boys before Katsuki's scoff silenced him again, and the blond continued to talk. "The fucking Hero Association knows about it. The guy they sent to talk to us told me he knew what I said to you, only apparently they don't fucking know it was me. Those extras were cowards and didn't single me out, probably thinking I would drag them down with me for their shit too." His scoff deepened as he shook his head. "I wouldn't stoop that fucking low. Unlike them I have some semblance of fucking dignity." His scoff turned to a sneer, one Izuku could see only spread across his face as far as his lips. "Yet I didn't have the guts to admit I said it. Made up some shit that some other idiot said it."

The look of disgust faded and left behind something somber that looked at the sheet of snow building across the roof in front of them. "I fucking hated that I said it. I hated it more than I hated looking at you, and that should have been impossible to top." A dry laugh sneaked through Izuku's laugh. He was the only one laughing. Katsuki balled his fingers to fists. "I didn't give it a second thought until that sludge-piece-of-shit tried to kill me, and then did I know what I fucking said. And I didn't take it back or apologize or say shit to you until we got into this school."

With the last word his voice dropped and cut, leaving the two to the soft blowing wind and the distant beat of music and laughing all the way down the flight of stairs. Neither said a word immediately, not following or in response. Izuku wasn't sure what to say, and he didn't know if Katsuki knew how to word what he was getting at, or if he had anything to say at all.

The blind rolled his shoulders and scoffed. "Everyone was a fucking dick to you. Everyone hated you. I hated you. Your own fucking dad isn't even around for you." Izuku flinched violently enough to cup his hands over his elbows and hug his chest. Katsuki gripped the sleeves of his forearms. "The only person you had looking out for you was auntie. You were crying all the damn time, you couldn't stand up for yourself; you couldn't do fucking anything. You—" Izuku could see the steam rising from the cloth of Katsuki's shirt. "With all the shit you had against you, why didn't you kill yourself?"

"Are..." Izuku eyed the edge of the snow bank. "Did you want me to?"

"No—Were you even fucking listening?" Katsuki turned on Izuku in a heartbeat, throwing a hand up with sparks. Just as fast, he growled and turned away, curling his fingers to his palm and shoving the heated limb into the snow beside him. "This isn't about whether you should have or not. That's not what I'm fucking asking. What I want to know is why you didn't. What the hell was there to keep you going on with this shit?" He shut his mouth tight after the question, and gave another few seconds of silence between them before piping back up. "You can speak now. Can't exactly answer my question keeping your mouth shut like that."

"...Oh." Izuku's arms dropped down against his legs and rested atop them. His eyes dropped to his shoes, curled at the toes in thought. "I...Yeah, it was-it was hard. Just—Everyone was mean to me, even...you." His eyes darted once to Katsuki, who did not tempt looking towards him. "But I...I wasn't, like, _that_ depressed, you know. I was sad, but I wasn't always sad. I was happy growing up, even if I didn't get to show it when anyone else was around. I had the heroes to look up to, you know? You...saw the notebooks I was making." Izuku rubbed a thumb along his thigh, mentally and carefully deciding on his words. "Even though everyone was trying to bring me down, it's not like I listened. You know that better than anyone else. I still cared about heroes. I still cared about being a hero. Everyone said whatever they wanted to me about how I couldn't be one, but I didn't listen because I didn't want to. The same went for...what you said." He shrugged his shoulders, though neither boys were looking at the other. "I didn't listen because I didn't want to. You all said so much over the years, it was kinda easy to turn down the threats after a while."

"So none of that shit ever got to you?" Katsuki piped back up with his question. "You just listened and ignored what everyone said to you? You just turned away from the crap I said to you?"

"No, I—no, it..." Izuku inhaled a long breath through his nose, scrunching it up as the cold air blew it strong. "I listened to everything you had to say. I didn't ignore your words, that's...not the right word. I didn't turn away from them, I turned them down. Your words...Kacchan, what you said was its own belief, your beliefs. You believed I wouldn't be a hero, you believed I couldn't be one, you believed I was pathetic and wouldn't be anything at all, and I actively fought against that. You believed all of it, and because of that I _didn't_. It got to me, everything you said, but I didn't hit me like that. I didn't take it for fact in an instant when you said them. And I don't think you think them anymore. They're...those words are gone. They don't mean anything anymore, and they're...I've only thought of that threat since the Hero Association brought it back up, and it's not anything _I_ believe in."

Katsuki clicked his tongue and glared at the snow pile by his feet. "So you didn't let it – any of it – get to you, even though it...got to you?"

"Not...I didn't let it get me that deep," Izuku admitted. "It hurt, yeah, but I was able to push it down just watching heroes work and holding onto that dream...that I could be one too." For the first time that night Katsuki looked over at him. His dim red irises locked with the emeralds in Izuku's, and the two stayed staring before the blond turned away again with a frown. "What...Kacchan what brought this abou—"

"Don't call me that," Katsuki cut in harsher than he looked to be pleased with. His fingers drummed along his legs. "Don't. We've known each other long enough, you might as fucking well call me by my actual name, I...Izuku."

Izuku watched in shock as Katsuki stumbled over his name, scrunching up the lower half of his face to get through the syllables before calming back down to his normal sneer of a placated look. "Kac—Katsuki..." It felt foreign on his tongue, but somehow saying it aloud calmed the blonde's expression. Izuku sighed out his nose. "What brought this about now?"

But Katsuki didn't respond. He kept his glare, as soft as it was, forward to roam over the snow bank in his silence. His thumbs edged the wrists of his sleeves, and his turning neck pulled at the collar gently. "Fuck it. This is stupid. Never mind." In a second he was on his feet, turned on his heel and walking back to the roof-accessible door. Izuku had to blink to register as Katsuki got up, and shot to his own feet in response.

"Kac—Wait!" To Izuku's surprise, he did, stopping as his hand rested on the door's handle. "Katsuki." The name turned the blonde's head slightly back to the other teen, without turning face away from the entrance. Izuku bit his lip and gulped, arms half-stretched out to the other boy and fingers curling down as his shoulders dropped. "You-you brought me up here to talk. Here – on the roof of all places – to ask me why I didn't jump off one…when you suggested I did." Looking at it meant more than irony in Izuku's eyes. "Did…I know you probably don't care if _I_ of all people ask, but…is something wrong?"

Katsuki's hand dropped from the handle and hung lazily by his side. His head dipped an inch after it, towards it, silently staring down in its direction. His fingers pinched together slowly, the thumb rubbing along the tips of each other finger. Izuku watched with in his own silence, a bubble of worry in his throat watching his old friend hold back his tongue. It felt out-of-character to watch Katsuki act so calm, so diluted from his usual and high octane self, that when the blonde turned around with a newly formed fist and a snarl of his teeth, Izuku felt relief within his initial reaction of fear.

"I want to be a fucking hero!" Katsuki declared, stabbing a thumb against his chest and barring his teeth. "I have grown up being told I can become one! And I've grown up wanting nothing more than to become one—and not just one, but the best one! Greater than even fucking All-Might!" He took a pause to catch his breath in the cold air, swiping a thumb into his nose with a sniffle. "I can become a fucking hero! And I was fucking set to! My quirk was the strongest out of all our classmates, so I trained it to be even stronger! _I_ trained to be even stronger! I trained to get into Yuei, into here, and become the greatest hero, greater than the greatest hero they had ever seen!" He stomped forward, once, twice, then a third before jabbing a finger into Izuku's chest. "And then you got accepted too.

"And you stayed." Katsuki's voice lowered over the hush of the winter winds, his eyes a blank stare down on Izuku. "No matter what shit you went through – that we all went through – you stayed. I found out you had a quirk, and then I found out it wasn't yours. I found out you weren't weak, and then I found out you are even stronger than me." His finger trailed down the front of Izuku's turtleneck before dropping to his side once again. "I found out you were using the shit past you had grown up with as your motivation to become a hero, and then I found that same past coming to me to tell me I can't become a hero."

Izuku had to blink to realize, but Katsuki was shaking, lightly. He didn't think it was from the cold air. The red of his eyes were spreading past the iris. "Every time I think back to that shit past, you know what I think? I think I fucking hated it. I hated every fucking second of it – what the fuck was there to like about it? I got praised for having a powerful quirk I used to beat the people I didn't like into the ground and scare others into submission to follow and keep praising me. I announced myself as a winner by beating up other kids into the dirt whether they did something or not. I did what I wanted to, to weed out anyone who thought of themselves as competition and it meant telling your ass to kill yourself. And you're in all three fucking categories.

"I beat the shit out of you, scared you into following me blindly and told you to off yourself like it was fucking nothing. And I thought I could be a fucking hero." Katsuki laughed a dry laugh, turning away from the green teen and stalking up to the edge of the snow piling around them. "And you don't even give a shit about all that. It happened, all of it, to you, and apparently it didn't mean jack shit to begin with because here you are acting like it never happened. Here you are acting like you haven't been a target all your fucking life and have always been destined to be a hero." He kicked into the snow, sending chunks flying further into the bank. "I thought I could do that shit. I thought I could keep where I was, where I wanted to be, and act like your shitty past never happened. Like I wasn't a fucking monster. Then the fucking Hero Association comes in bringing that shit back up, talking to me about the death threat not knowing it was me and I highly fucking doubt they don't." He looked back over his shoulder to Izuku, blinking nothing to the blank stare of surprise the green teen wore across his face. "It sounds like something right up my alley, doesn't it? Yelling 'die' every other fucking attack, telling people to piss off and shit. What's a detailed death threat to add to the list other than expected? Not like your friends don't already know about it, with the way they've been huddling you."

Izuku dropped his gaze between the boys, dragging between their boots. "I never told anyone you said it, K-Katsuki," he mumbled out, almost incoherent in the cold blowing winds. "I wouldn't tell anyone it."

"What does that fucking matter?" Katsuki's hands dipped into his pockets and an elbow darted towards the door behind them. "Like I said, you apparently don't want shit to do with the past. You dropped that harder than Pinky does her grades. But the instant Squirrel Girl and Mr. Robot find out I was the one who told you that shit, you and I both know they would be on my ass to get me out of here for that. It'd be shared around the school faster than Dart could ever accomplish. I'd be expelled in a fucking heartbeat, but I doubt anyone would care if I even had one to begin with. They've been tiptoeing around me all fucking year, they'd probably fucking celebrate the opportunity to bite me in the ass – if not grape stain, then I'd do just fine." He shrugged with more emotion than the action normally called for. "I ain't gonna become a fucking hero. No matter what I do to lose that fucking past of me, end that part of me, move on and actually try to be a decent fucking human being, that shit I did keeps coming back to remind me I wasn't shit and I never will be. And you want to know the worst fucking part?" A hand rose back out from a pocket and pointed, weakly, to Izuku. "My first thought was to blame you – blame the fucking kid who was being harmed, not the kid doing the harm. And that just says it all, doesn't it?"

Izuku thought it did, even though it left out a lot too. That past – their past, though Katsuki continued to exempt himself from it – had been, frankly, quite shit. Izuku knew exactly what would come of them both were it to be detailed and shared to their classmates and their teachers, and even their parents. And, once, he had thought of doing just that: sharing the truth to his mother not too long after he and Katsuki entered junior high and letting her take the wheel in dealing with the world against him instead of it being him against it. In the end, he didn't, because he didn't feel the need to. He felt the bruises, he felt the scars, he felt the blood, he felt the aching in his chest every time he had to deal with someone complaining about having to deal with him. But he didn't feel the need to admit defeat and let it all change his life.

And yet here was Katsuki, about to hand the win over to the past.

Izuku remembered Katsuki – young and brave and brash – and he remembered little good about him. Strong and fearless and headstrong; on their own, redeemable qualities; that in Kacchan's hands were weapons he used to pummel Izuku into the dirt. A quirk that could make anyone a hero; that made him a sobbing mess in the sand. A smile that Katsuki had learned from All-Might; that had become a twisted, glee-filled smile from the joy of beating Izuku blue and purple.

Izuku hated remembering that Kacchan existed like that, though the thought never went away. But Izuku remembered seeing that Kacchan die, slowly, since the day he could declare a win over the blonde boy. How his sharp edges smoothed over the months they spent learning together under Aizawa and All-Might. How his crass language and harsh words died in his throat every time he spoke them. How he had real friends, actual people he talked to that didn't follow him blindly. How he was changing, truly, and in some way understanding what a hero was, that wasn't what he was acting like before. How the Kacchan he remembered melted and molded into a new, refined, rough-but-truly heroic Katsuki.

And that Katsuki was bowing his head to let the past ruin him.

"When you don't even have shit to say, I can tell I fucked up." Katsuki's voice brought Izuku back to the real world. "Make the fucking mumble kid a mute, why don't I? They'd expect that, too. 'D fit right up their alley. But this is what I fucking get, isn't it? For all the shit I did, all the crap I told you that you could never become a hero, I'm the one who takes the fucking hit and loses his chances, right? How fucking poetic." Izuku watched the pale breath of air he released against the dim and dark horizon. "I'm the fucking villain here. The fuck do I get feeling any remorse if it won't change shit? There's nothing to change with you, nothing to change with your…friends and nothing to change the minds of the teachers or auntie or the old hag when they find out. Word gets out and everything is set in stone ready to read my name. 'Here lies Katsuki Bakugou; that asshole who thought he could be a hero by tearing down every fucking child who tried to stand in his way.' What a fucking legend." He glared at the school buildings and dormitories lit up by the lamp posts scattered about, and far off in the distance where fireworks were booming and sounding off from another corner of the city. "Do you even have anything to fucking say?" With his question he turned around, his soft red eyes shining under the lamp they had above the door. "Anything at all?"

Izuku met his eyes with another gulp, fists balled gently against his sides. "I…I do," he responded with a small nod. Katsuki waved a hand lazily at him, and Izuku took that as the right to speak his mind, starting with a question. "Do you know why I didn't—why I haven't told anyone what you did?"

"You already fucking told me that—"

"I meant now, Kacchan." The reversion to his nickname pressed Katsuki's lips together. "Why I haven't told anyone here or All-Might or mom what happened. Why, now that I…have friends and people and adults I can turn to for whatever help they can give, I haven't told any of them about us. Do you know why?" The blond stayed silent and shook his head to answer Izuku's question, so he continued. "If…If you were to go to anyone – the staff, the principle, All-Might, our parents – you'd be giving them an apology, right? You'd-you'd be admitting to what you did and that would basically be your 'sorry' to them, but you don't have to tell them you're sorry." The furrowed and raised eyebrow didn't interrupt any more than they did stand out on Katsuki's face. "What do you have to apologize to Aizawa-sensei for? You've done nothing to him other than yell, but you do that to everyone and he doesn't…he doesn't stand for that attitude, does he? What do you have to apologize to your friends for? Kaminari, Sero, Kirishima, Ashido – they genuinely like you and like spending time with you. They don't follow you blindly and they're not really afraid of you like everyone else was. You've done nothing but humor them and make them smile. What do you have to apologize to them for?" Izuku inhaled the frigid air and shuddered as it went down his neck. "You haven't really wronged anyone else. You have no one else to apologize to." A loose shrug pushed up his shoulders. "It's just me."

A soft chuckle passed out his lips when he turned his head. "It's…Just saying sorry won't be enough for me to forgive you – entirely, at least – and I…I don't know what will make up for everything." He blinked past his own watering eyes and looked back to Katsuki's clearing orbs. "Can I make one suggestion though, that…maybe it will be enough?"

The blonde boy exhaled sharply through his nose. "Yeah, fine." He coughed into his shoulder. "I-I mean…yeah."

"Don't give up." The answer came from Izuku's lips as soon as he got his out of Katsuki's. "You—Being here at Yuei has…Honestly, if you were to leave Yuei, I don't think you'd get better. I don't think the nagging reminder that you were dropped from the school of your dreams would help you in shaping yourself into someone better if this place wasn't already shaping you into that by keeping you here." A small, small smile stayed on his lips. "If you stay here and you keep trying and you do what you do best and you don't give up…that would be the best way to start any apology. If you leave you can't…do any of that, and I don't think you want to let this keeping being a part of our lives, do you?"

Katsuki's shoulders squared, be it from the words Izuku used or something neither of them would admit it being Izuku who was saying it all. "Of course I don't. I'm—that isn't me."

"Then stay," Izuku stated, softly. "This can stay between us – forever, for all I care. No one ever has to know the truth other than us. Because this is just about us. And it will go away faster if we are at least…around each other to know it's really gone for good. That's all I ask."

The two boys stood silent, facing each other in a soft stand-off. Katsuki's eyes dropped away from Izuku's, the contemplation in his head evident in his features before they turned back up. "So I just…stay here and act like nothing ever happened?"

"Kinda?" Izuku laughed at he thought more about what was being said. "Maybe…act like the hero you want to be, that you think you should be, so you don't have to be what you don't want to be and never wanted to be ever again."

The red-eyed boy blinked to the green teen with a more stoic face. "That is the sappiest shit I think I've ever heard you say, and I've fucking listened to your stories you tell Eri. I didn't think you could top any of that sap, but here we fucking are."

Izuku sputtered like an engine, red growing on the red cheeks he'd already gained from the cold air. "K-Kacchan, I'm-I'm trying to be serious here—"

"I'll do it," Katsuki told him quickly, helping to call the other teen's outburst. "I didn't say I wouldn't. I just have to…stay her and prove myself to you?" His eyes flickered to the side in thought for a brief second. "Prove to you that I mean it when I say I want to be better?"

Izuku nodded slowly and licked his lips. "Yeah, just…that."

"Fine. I can do that, I guess." Katsuki scoffed him own laugh. "I don't really have a choice, do I? Either I try or I don't. Really not that much else to it." His lips flat-lined again. "Is it really that hard for you to say my name and stop calling me that childish shit?"

"Eh?" Izuku blinked. His hands came in front of his chest, indexes swirling about has he talked. "I-it's just natural for me to say, ya' know? I can't help it sometimes."

"Izuku." Katsuki said his name, tilting his head back and looking at the awning they had to keep the snow off of them. He repeated the other boy's name one time and then another, lips jutting out as the last syllable left his lips. He looked back down to the boy he was naming. "I'll keep calling you Deku in front of everyone else so I don't have to hear them debate what shit we're talking about just because I'm saying your fucking name. But when it's just you and me, I'm not calling you anything else other than Izuku. I expect the same fucking thing from you." A finger jabbed in the green boy's direction, a scowl and frown marking his face as he continued. "I don't deserve shit from you, but…I'm asking for this anyways. That fair?"

Izuku couldn't help but let his lips stretch into a brighter smile than the boys had made in the past several minutes. "Yeah…alright. Katsuki." He tried the name for himself, again, noting just how different it was from what he was used to. "If it means you're staying."

"Of-fucking-course I'm staying. And I'll start by staying inside. You too." Katsuki lumbered forward, pressing his hands to Izuku's shoulder to turn him around and push him to the door. "Keep standing out here and you'll get pneumonia before I do, and I don't want to have to deal with your sick ass for the rest of the break. We have classes in two days and I don't need you sneezing all over me before we get back. Fucking move. You have your own goddamn feet."

Izuku laughed to himself, and held back laughing harder as Katsuki scoffed and knocked him in the back of the head to keep him walking. He rubbed his head and kept a pace beside Katsuki down the stairs, but he didn't cease his smiling. The blonde boy kept his eyes on the stairs as they descended and a hard stare as he always did, but his body was still eased and slouched their way down. Izuku wanted to comment on it, but he kept his words of happiness beneath his throat.

As they continued their downward spiral the two boys came across the ascending Kyoka and Eri. The young girl dashed into Izuku's legs, hugging them and trapping him in place as Katsuki carried on down the stairwell. The blonde boy said his peace to the green boy as he disappeared around the bend, seemingly ignoring the parting words of Izuku and the placid stare of Jirou. The young girl kept most of Izuku's attention instead, climbing into his arms as he picked her up and clutching his shirt when telling him Kyoka invited her to the older teen's room to play so piano. The purple-haired girl told him he was welcomed to join, and much coercing from Eri only solidified his agreement on their way to Jirou's room.

* * *

All For One kept his breathing low, the hum of the sensors and cameras still buzzing in his marred ears. The joints of the mounted guns clicked and fidgeted every other second, sending short waves through the walls with each move. Cursed with attentiveness, he learned when he had taken the quirk. It was too useful a power, an ability, a fallback to give up just because so much went on around him. It worked sufficiently well in the place of his eyes. It was also one of the few quirks he could still manage to use in his weakened state.

All-Might had left him reeling in whiplash, his body catching up to the years upon years of suppressed injuries and losses and medical examination and procedures he had experienced since their first and brutal fight. The second fight only worsened the pain. But he had the quirks to dilute those, enough so to prevent from passing out from his wounds.

The pain wouldn't stop him, though. There was still much to be done.

Shigaraki had taken control of the Underworld, or was at least set to do so sooner than later. With the death and murder of Chisaki and the arrest of the Precepts of Death, one of if not the most fearsome competition had been taken down, leaving the League the free space to grow in name and power in its wake. While the outside world held many opportunities for possible followers and companions, there were many more of higher fame and power surrounding All For One now. Muscular had been kept alive following his battle at the training camp, thought he did not know who specifically had taken down the man of body mass. Moonfish was in worse conditions, but he could still function properly enough to kill again. That would work just fine. Stain, sadly enough, was power wasted on a single ideal, noted the wielder of taking. His strength and speed would be very useful under his wing, under Shigaraki's more fine-tuned guidance now that he was learning how to take the reins of the League. He would take convincing, he knew that.

For some time, All For One plotted his escape. Said plan changed every few days or so, the growing information he gained of his prison and its true inner workings coming to light and forming another piece to the puzzle of his revival. He would need time to do so, however. The quirks he had to use, his body was too weak to handle at their best. When he recovered under police treatment – and it was a when – he would take advantage of their pity as his means of leave. He wouldn't have the same control or rein with fear he had before, even when he returned to his loyal crew, but it was in Shigaraki's hands now. The job to take had fallen to Tomura. The fitting quirk would come his way soon, to truly give him the iron fist his collection needed.

The whirling stopped. All For One dared to turn his head as the sensors lessened, tracking his movements as the detectors and vibrations calmed and the guns removed their clips. The belligerent and numerous, always-on security turning off? In the world's most dangerous and highly guarded facility? He smiled under the plastic mask, and rolled his head as the door behind him opened.

"Meal time? At midnight?" The old villain chuckled darkly in the dim lighting. "Am I finally beating treated like my age? I'm only several dozen years old and it has taken this long to catch up with me." He extended his senses, bouncing images off his surroundings, and taking notice of the two empty-handed and safely-armed unusual guards walk up beside him. "Food is usually required to have a meal at any given time. So I believe it is safe to assume you're not here to feed me."

One man took stance beside him, facing too fuzzy to picture but shoulders and hands tense as the folded behind his back. The other kept walking forward and turned on heel in front of first-generation quirked gentleman. All For One sighed, fogging the mask that funneled him air. "I must say, I was not expecting company so soon. I would have guessed a few more weeks, maybe months before anyone came my way. I would have at least expected Tomura to come and visit me himself. But no matter. Better to air on the side of caution, even when the game is in your favor. No shame in that."

The man in front swiped a hand behind himself, a grin forming on All For One's face as he readied for release. Then the man beside him turned by the waist and took hold of his breathing mask, yanking it up and off the old villain's face, and yanking him out of his moment of satisfaction. Then the man in front of him pointed a gun to his chest and fired.

All For One jolted under his binds, turning down to face where the spike in his chest had appeared. The first shot was followed by nothing but his own reactions, his mix of surprise and the small boil of anger that he felt very rarely. And then the two were overshadowed by the giddy feeling of glee he last remembered watching All-Might's smile fade at Nana's name.

"A bullet? Really?" The elder villain lifted his head, easing back up in his seat and facing the man in front of him, who showed no signs of backing down. "I can take the strongest punch the world's greatest hero had to offer and live, and you come in here to shoot me?" He took a breath of the pristine and fabric-scented air of his cell, exhaling in a cough to settle his lungs. The sensors didn't register in his head, and no movement to rearm themselves were being made. He smiled widely and flexed his body to push the bullet out of his skin. "I thank you for the opportun—opportunity to-to—" A violent cough shook his lungs and the whole of his body, and a liquid rose up his throat was spat out against his leg. The taste of iron lingered on his tongue.

All For One turned back to the bullet in his chest, feeling the prick still there, unremoved though he had tried—he could see the bullet. He couldn't picture it. He extended his sense—he couldn't see anything. He couldn't feel the sensors that watched over his shoulders. He couldn't form a figure in the place of the two men that were supposed to be in front of him. His quirk was failing him. How was his quirk fail—

His head whipped violently to the man in front of him, an uncommon snarl gracing his lips. Another bang rang through his ears, though muffled it was registered. His body convulsed again, a sound that must have been a scream or a cry that he wasn't used to making anymore. Pain shot through his arms, and the two limbs slackened in their binds and the chair arms.

A shout resonated in front of him, yelling out a plea and a name he recognized but didn't have time to ponder as a third bullet contacted his center, and another his shoulder. Through his burning blood and cooling bones he tried to call for his quirks, but his senses did not return, his claws did not grow, his muscles did not expand. His quirks did not respond.

The shouting was lost in a soft ring that grew louder and louder. A second voice could not be made out. A click and a barrage of muffled booms or bangs or whacks couldn't be determined as his body shook and bleed out the mouth and the few holes ridding his chest and the small pricks where needles of bullets had stuck in him. Light flashed and burned on his skin as the heat left his body. Sensations dropped to charring to freezing to nothing. His body slouched and fell into the bonds that tied him to his chair, oblivious to the shouts of two men and more men and more gunshots and more flashing lights and more screaming. Around him, the rest of the world died out in his ears.

To the rest of the world, All For One died at 0036 on January 1st in his own cell.


	9. 1-9

**Ya know, I wanted this to be done sooner, but I realized way too late that typing everything out with only brief notes on what to cover wasn't cutting it, so I decided to write this down in pencil before moving it over to text. It just motivates me more to write. Guess I'm putting that back into my work like before.**

 **I don't really have much to say other than Happy New Year. I'm in my last stretch of college, and I have it so I have less academic classes these next four months, which means more time out of school work for myself, which means this and my publishing writing, so Imma jump back on that before working on the next chapter to this. I'm really excited to do the follow up to this, if the ending is anything to go by. And once these first years graduate, I'll be back on my bullshit and back to writing Metal Bat chapters. And a little something else whenever I get my sloth ass over there in the future.**

 **It does seem like last chapter left quite the impressions, so I'll just end it with the comment responses and let ya'll get to reading what I wrote.**

 **HankFlamion18: 1. Well it wasn't for too long. Sorry. 2. Been waiting a long time to write it, too. I'm happy you like it. 3. _Ha_.**

 **R-king 93: Will do, thank you.**

 **Chopper911: Psychology is always a fun subject to focus on. I love approaching it my own way.**

 **Midnight Angels Say GoodNight: Until recently they had only produced minimal lasting bullets, not indefinite like those on Mirio, as far as we know to canon. He'd been in hiding, so it's not like they could any sooner. And I thought it was about high time penetrable forces met the immovable object.**

 **FabulousMoonie: Yeah, I'm going fucking everywhere. Welcome to my world.**

 **Thank you to all who read and comment and to those that have followed along as I struggle to go on. Enjoy a short bit.**

* * *

If Tooru appreciated anything about her quirk, it was her ability to avoid problems.

She wasn't born with her quirk, like most children were, and she knew her family couldn't be happier about that. Had empty space come out of her mother, Tooru was sure everyone in the room during her birth would have had a panic attack. Her quirk was but a strange mashing of her parents' quirks: an ability to see through walls and the ability to refract light. Her own quirk was but a freak mutation of the two, the likes of which not even the doctors were able to guess before it appeared.

(Tooru hasn't told anyone she's met since her quirk came upon her, but her family has pictures of when she was young, ones that revealed what she looked like compared to the rest of her classmates. She found it funnier never to tell anyone about them, though. Leave them guessing the truth.)

It had its uses, though. While she never gained her mother's ability as a side effect, the power to refract light as her father did proved useful enough in the way her quirk managed it. A classmate back in elementary had the ability to shoot lasers from his eyes like an ancient comic book character, only with the control to turn them on and off. It was Tooru's own idea to for him to shoot them at her, believing she could redirect them, and her own fault when she glowed red and almost gave one of the other children a 'problem' with their epilepsy.

It proved as a useful means in training for heroics, blinding the opponent for long enough to approach and take them down. She had learned basic martial arts to apply in those scenarios in training, but really nothing more. Her physique, while impossible to judge at a passing glance through her abdomen, needed a more mature body to function within the spectrum she needed it to, to be more powerful and quick to taking people down and make up for the lack of a strength boost other people got with their quirks. The problem, as well, with having to strip down to best utilize not only her invisibility but her second nature of light refraction, was something adults and other children still disliked, even despite her situation. She kept quiet about her ideas the few years building up to Yuei, doing her best to avoid any more teasing on the situation until she could prove its usefulness.

That same teasing is how she found out how useful it was to get away from bullies. People who mocked her more cheery nature and attitude at practically everything, along with taunting her and insulting her for her lack of modesty compared to the other boys and girls in her school. Despite their words mocking her invisible physique, she still used the tactic of going nude to run away from anyone who tried to follow her after school, and after several times learned better how to keep quite in steps, voice and tears to avoid them.

In the three years before joining Yuei, she had moved to a school where she knew virtually no one from before, so her classmates then were respectful, minus the few exceptions and perverted, hormonal teens she had as classmates. Then in joining Yuei had she been surrounded by people who were respectful and kind and nice. Even if they had their own problems with her lack of a uniform, no one mocked her or teased her or bullied her about it. The only real concern she had was Mineta, whose comments were more tasteless than they were offensive and he was held back on a leash that was Tsuyu's tongue choking him until he's the color of his hair.

So with her quirk she had left the New Year's party early for the night, trickling out with the few others before her. Excluding the few who couldn't make it to the party, for better or for worse, the duo family of the class and the rocker girl, who was one of the many little Eri clung to, were the only ones who left the common room before anyone else, especially within the hour of the New Year. By the time the clock struck one, everyone else was still lounging around in the dead of night, including the explosive boy who had been the first to disappear and the only one to return. Only when Mina declared to do a game of truth or dare did Tooru book it out of the room without so much as a word. She loved the pink-skinned girl like a sister but she knew how dangerous the teenage girl could be when give the opportunity to find or make any new gossip.

Hagakure had promptly passed out in her room not even a few minutes after entering, still dressed in her daily clothes and hogging the giant plushie under the covers for the rest of the night. A move she came to regret the following morning, somehow tangled against it and rolling off the comforter and onto the carpet floor of her room. She lifted herself up with a groan from her lips and another in her arms trying to climb the side of the bed.

She crawled to the blinked screen of her phone like a moth to the flame, and groaned in her head as the comparison had her picturing Kaminari jumping to the nearest source of light to keep up with the modern internet. She scrolled past the few unimportant notifications she had on, just in case one day something interesting and clicked through the class group chat, reading over the few messages her classmates left before all crashing for the night themselves. Mina and Denki had left a few images and captions from the after party she had bailed on, the former leaving Hagakure a direct message in their own chat for ditching so soon on her. She sent a small apology message for the pink girl to find when she was out of her sugar coma. Tooru remember a lot of cake could go around, and a lot of it found its home in the pink girl's stomach.

A ding of a new notification appeared at the top of her phone, and Tooru was prepared to swipe it away before reading the words "Tartarus" and "All-Might" within the same sentence. She followed it into social media before following the link to the article, and skimmed through the words to the sentences that jumped out at her.

 _ **Villain Who Faced All-Might Found Dead in Tartarus**_

 _At 12:34 on January 1, 2164, an alarm went off inside the high-security villain-housing prison of Japan, Tartarus, alerting the night-shift officers of action within the cell of the most dangerous villain in their custody: the unnamed and faceless man who had fought the previous number one hero of the world, All-Might, before said hero's retirement. Officers on the scene took the warning as none like it before, taking every precaution and putting every man they had to the cell in an instant, even calling in what pro heroes they could into booking their way over. The sight they found in the cell was not what they were expecting to find._

 _The man who had been tied to his chair and locked away from the world was found dead in his seat the moment any officer entered the room, shot by two men dressed in the same uniform as any other officer working the night shift before anyone else could arrive. The two men surrendered without a fight, no sign of any struggle or damage reported by any of the officers or heroes who arrived on the scene._

 _Endeavor, the current number one hero of Japan and of the world, was on the scene and present at the prison, seemingly recovered from his city encounter just months ago, but had nothing to say or add to the matter until the two perpetrators could be questioned for their crimes of "breaking into the prison and taking the laws into their own hands." We've reached out to All-Might for word on the matter, but we have yet to receive a response._

She skipped past the stock photo of the villain, noting the press didn't have one to use more fitting of the headline, all the way down to the bottom of the page and the two identified men who had stirred up the story.

 _Edit, 10:56: The two men who had infiltrated Tartarus and shot the high-profiled villain are Rekka Wadatsu and Taiyō, brothers and former members of the yakuza tied to the raid and arrest of the Precepts of Death earlier this year. The Rekka brothers are two of five Yakuza reported as MIA following the raid and following captures of Yakuza members in August of this year._

On the inside, Hagakure could hear her inner thoughts jumping for joy. The Yakuza, a relatively dangerous group if acted correctly, was dwindling by the numbers, and the most dangerous man alive was now no longer. To hear news implying the easing safety in the world was something she wanted to jump on her bed and shout for the whole dorms to hear. Only one thing held her back, and the thoughts of it sent her barreling out of her room and down the hall to the only other girl on her floor.

A few knocks on Jirou's door had the invisible girl flinching at the loud impact, leading her to soften the pounding of her fist against wood. The door swung open in response and Tooru was happy her body was invisible and her reflexes were sharp enough that she didn't hit a groggy and pouting Jirou on the head to knock again.

The earjack girl rubbed her eyes to the sight of floating clothing. "Tooru, it's too early in the morning for this," Kyoka grumbled out. "What do you want?"

"Hey Jirou. S-sorry for waking you if I did." The invisible girl chuckled softly and rubbed the back of her hair. "It's also midday already, by the way."

"It is?" A whine in Jirou's words could be heard. "God, I stayed up way too late. Did you know Eri doesn't sleep?"

"She doesn't?"

"I'm inclined to believe so if she decided to keep playing until five in the morning." Jirou leaned against the frame of her room. "What do you need, Hagakure? I don't think I slept long enough."

"Eri was actually the person I came to see." Tooru tilted body and head to try and peer over Jirou's shoulder. "I thought I heard her with you and Midoriya last night and I was wondering if they spent the night with you or?..."

Jirou coughed into her shoulder as a hand pulled the door closer against her, hiding the room behind her while simultaneously trying to hide a blush against the shoulder of her shirt. "N-No, neither of them are here. When Eri got tuckered out, Midoriya took her back to his room, I'm pretty sure the two of them went there. Probably still are."

Tooru groaned and turned to the staircase beside the door. "Aw, now I gotta walk more." The girl moved into a small jog down the stairs, calling over her shoulder, "Thanks Jirou! Sorry for waking you."

The purple-haired girl sunk her head to her shoulders, hiding the jacks of her ear lobes under the cloth of her shirt, grumbling, "You could 'a just texted him up. You don't have to be so loud." She knew the invisible girl couldn't hear here though, and didn't bother to shout after her. "As if I'd let a boy sleep in my room…"

* * *

Izuku was use to less sleep than the norm, especially for someone his age. He hadn't gotten a night of eight hours for a few months, from what he could remember. He didn't mind it, though, given the work he was putting in to becoming a hero and the payoff his work was showing. He wished he could do more and perform more and better than he did, given how lackluster he truly was compared to his goal, but he told himself he had the time to spend to get there. Even if the walls were closing in around him, Izuku was holding them off from ever truly pressuring him. It was motivation to put in more work, knowing one day he'd get there. And he made sure to spend that time wisely, like putting in an extra hour of training or catching ahead of homework and assignments like a few of his classmates, or just watching Eri sleep as he did now.

The older Midoriya child scooped up Eri's hair with a finger, pushing it back behind her ear and out of her face when it had tried to cover her. He had no idea she had the energy to stay up so late, even for something such as New Years, so he assumed Sato had something of his own in the cake to give the class more energy to try and make it to daybreak. Izuku doubted it could have been a drug; the taller boy wasn't someone like that to his classmates, especially with a child around the class.

He gently tugged on the Clefairy plushie blocking him from her, bringing it to tap the bottom of her chin and elicit her to hug the doll tighter. What words she mumbled out were incoherent but the sight alone was all he wanted relax and smile to.

A knock on his door turned his attention away from Eri, and had him climb out of the covers gently enough as to not awaken the little girl. Slipping on his green gloves as he passed his desk, he pulled the door open slowly, having to lower his gaze a moment to the floating shirt and pants and back up to where he believed Tooru's face was. "Oh, uh, hey Tooru," Midoriya greeted, rubbing a hand on the back of his neck. "Um, what's up?"

"Hey, Midoriya. I didn't wake you, did I?"

Izuku shook his head and looked back to the still sleeping form of Eri. "No, I've been awake for a while already. And Eri's still sleeping, so it's fine. Is—ah—is there something wrong?"

"Not really, just—okay maybe kind of, but can I talk to you alone?" Hagakure uses her phone to gesture him out into the hall. "I don't want Eri to hear this."

Izuku gave a look of furrowed eyebrows to his classmate before dropping the stare as he turned to the girl still in bed. With a sigh he snuck between the door and the frame and eased it closed before turning to the invisible girl. "What's wrong?"

The straps of Tooru's top bounced. "Wow, dad-mode already," she commented, gaining the immediate reaction of sending the boy in front of her spiraling to pull back on his tone. "Nah, dude, it's cool. It's kinda appropriate anyways. It's just…" Instead of letting her words do the talking, she left the job to the phone in her hand the news tab still open on screen. Izuku took the phone cautiously, easing it into his own grip and reading over the headline. That alone got his eyes bulging and sent him scrolling down the page in a hurry.

Hagakure only nodded in sympathy, noticing the signs of horror, surprise and bafflement on her classmate's face, covering over his inner thoughts of realization at the many points the article made and brought up with his own secrets and life. _All For One dead at the hands of the Yakuza? Weren't the conspiring with one another? Working together in collecting the serum made from Eri's blood and mass producing it to effect the rest of the world? What spurred this on? Even if their teamwork was rough around the edges, nothing in the news suggested the two were entirely disconnected from an alliance with one another. What chain reaction brought both sides to this end?_

"Midoriya." The words of the girl in front of him took Izuku's attention out of his thoughts. "Are you okay? You're looking a little pale there, buddy." The green boy nodded with a gulp and handed the phone back to its owner.

"Yeah, I just...need to process it a bit." _None of this is good,_ Izuku mused in his head, pushing the sight of Tooru's clothing and the phone slipping into her pocket as second to his thoughts _. All For One is dead, but that doesn't change anything about Shigaraki. The League's been radio silent for a few weeks now – this news will probably spur a response out of them sooner than later. And with the leader dead, that means total control of the League is supposed to follow Tomura, if everyone does follow him._

"It's something, all right," Tooru hushed aloud. "If anything, I"—the turn of her shirt went left and right—"think it's good that the man isn't around to terrorize us anymore."

 _If anything that just makes Shigaraki our main enemy, and we have no idea what he can do now. That Nomu that fought Endeavor proved they still have tricks up their sleeves, even if All For One's quirk and the many he took with it aren't available to them anymore—unless he already passed them on in some way to Tomura. Would he have?_

"And that means the League of Villain's is now weaker than they were before, and they'll probably just fall apart with their leader gone."

 _They're not weaker at all. Tomura's matured by now, I'm sure of it. He's got a grasp on the League in some way, even if not fully. I doubt even one non-believer on their team will stop the whole of their group or even harm Shigaraki from getting what he wants. Now they just don't have the distraction of getting their old leader out of prison. This death is just going to be motivation to attack us with more reason in their hearts._

"And that the Yakuza are losing more and more members by the day."

 _But that means they're still around and capable of getting whatever they want, just as before. Two of their men, within the walls of what's supposed to be the strongest fortress of a prison in the world, with the same quirk neutralizing bullets they were making before their arrest, which the last of which were supposed to have gone missing in the hands of the League of Villains, of who the Yakuza were supposed to be working with before the killed the former's leader? The fact they had any power at all after the death of their leader in Overhaul should have been impossible, but that didn't seem to stop them._

"…At least we'll have less to worry about these next few years until we get to graduate, and then maybe by then some other league or whatever will show up and be our threat to face as real heroes?"

 _We don't have that kind of time. I don't have that kind of time. Shigaraki knows who I am, and he without doubt should know what I'm supposed to become. The old era of this fight is now over, and the titles have fallen to me and Tomura to finish this. All-Might's words are coming true sooner than I thought they would have. If I stand any chance in ending this feud between All For One and One For All, then I need to be prepared sooner than later too to stop Shigaraki._

"…I'm trying to find something to say to make you calm down but I'm just making this worse, aren't I? I'm so sorry, Midoriya."

The green-haired teen startled and fell back against his door, and bounced right back to his feet the instant he made contact. "N-n-no, no, Tooru." His hands waved as blurs between him and the invisible girl. "Sorry, sorry, I was—I wasn't paying attention; I got lost in my thoughts. I'm sorry. I just…" A finger jolted over his shoulder to the room behind him. "I don't want her to get roped back into this mess."

The sigh of defeat was audible from the girl. "Yeah, that's why I hurried down here. Thought you might want to hear it so it doesn't sneak up on the two of you. And I don't really know if it would be okay for Eri to hear, anyways, ya know?"

"I know." Izuku nodded and wiped a hand over his mouth. "I don't think she can hear of it right now. Not like this. I can't do that to her."

"Fair enough," Tooru tacked on at the end. "Do you want me to send a message through the class chat to keep quiet about it too? I know you don't really talk often in it – which you totally should because Denki wants to know if you have any memes to top his own, it'll be cool, I promise – but I can go ahead and do it if you want."

"Uh, yeah, please, that would be great, thanks. And sorry for not, you know, talking on there more. Been kinda busy, 'ya know? And, um, it's not something I'm really too—"

Their conversation cut short as the door to Izuku's room squeaked open, prompting the two teens to turn and stare down at the face peeking through the opening. Eri shuffled through the doorway, almost swaying out with the big Clefairy doll hugged to her chest. Her eyelids stayed over half her eyes as she yawned and leaned towards the teenage boy. "Daddy…"

Izuku was down on his knees and hovering over the young girl, arms circled around her to keep her stable on her feet. "Sorry, Eri," he spoke to her, softly. "Did we wake you?" She nodded into her doll, leaning against his arms and falling against him to stay up. "Sorry about that. Hagakure wanted to talk with me a moment. You looked like you could have used some more sleep, so I didn't want to wake you." She moved with his arms, sitting her down on his lap to be more comfortable. "Do you want to go back to bed?"

She nodded again and hummed as Izuku lifted her into the air when he stood and turned to his classmate. "Please, if you could," he pleaded to Tooru, "and thanks."

She nodded with her upper body, probably because it made her action clearer, Izuku guessed. "Don't mention it, dude," she responded. "I'll make sure none of us do." Izuku couldn't help the less-than-pleased look he gave her for that, though she seemingly brushed it off as she turned back to the stairwell. "Sorry for waking you both. Sleep well, you two."

Izuku watched as she took off down the steps, and as Eri lifted one hand and waved, "Bye Violet." He carried her back through the door and tucked her back into bed, as she cuddled between her pillow and plushie. He moved to leave her be, but the hand that shot out and clutched his shirt said otherwise, and he found himself lying down atop the covers beside her.

In silence he watched her attempt to sleep, hands fumbling about between the blanket and the doll and his own hands. She settled on him, gripping two of his fingers as she kept her eyes closed to sleep again, and Izuku said nothing to disturb her. He said nothing as she turned over with her toy to face him. He said nothing as he eyes opened sluggishly. He said nothing as she look down to their intertwined hands, with his free fingers resting atop those holding onto him.

He only spoke when she tried to pull off the glove.

Izuku's other hand came up to cover hers, stopping her motion while attempting to slide his hand back into the glove. "Eri, what are you doing?" he questioned, a laugh cutting through his perplexion. The young girl in question hummed what Izuku thought could have been annoyance as she tried to pull on the glove again, only for his hands to keep her from making any progress. So Izuku pressed, "Eri."

"I wanna see your hand," was the soft response she gave. Izuku could hear the whine in her voice, and kept his hand placed atop hers despite her physical protests. She kept her eyes down and away from his.

"Eri, you should ask something like that with words, not try to force it." He lowered his body more onto the bed, leaning his head down towards Eri's and provoking her to curl in further on her grip. "If you just asked I would have taken them off, you know that, right?" The hand he held atop hers used one finger to stroke her knuckles, what he had hoped would have been a good attempt at calming her down, but she stayed adamant on hiding away under the covers and her toy. "If you talk to me, I'll listen. I promise, Eri. I'm not mad at you." Those words seemed to strike something in the young girl, as her eyes snapped up to his with the surprise he wasn't too happy to see. "Tell me why, and I'll take them off for you. Okay?"

With a swallow she looked back to their layered hands, and Izuku could feel her attempts to remove his glove cease. When she finally spoke, her voice was soft. "You're hiding your scars." There was no doubt to her words, no question to her statement, and Izuku couldn't find a way to tip-toe around her words.

"Yes." His nod along the pillow was slow between his words. "I am."

"Why?" Her grip slackened, but Izuku made no move away from her hands. He kept himself where he was, as Eri made no attempt to move away either. "You told me I don't have to hide my scars."

That he did. He remembered that well. Having to undo and redo her bandages until her arms were fully healed of the wounds her captors left her with happened almost as often as she changed clothes. She wanted nothing but to wear sleeves and jackets and long pants to hide as much skin as possible.

She thought they were an embarrassment compared to the unscathed skin of many of Izuku's classmates. Kirishima's scar was barely noticeable above his eye, and Shouto's blended in with his hair and skin color combination. Compared to them, her scars stood out like a sore thumb. The closest person she resembled was Izuku, though she never thought that as a bad thing. The thought alone wasn't enough to convince her she had nothing to worry about or fear. It did take Izuku stepping in to change that.

Despite what had caused those scars, Izuku thought they were a sign for more than the people that hurt her. She had come out of their grasp, she had not only escaped but fought her way out, and the scars only helped to show just how much of her was freed from her captors. Izuku saw Eri's scars as showcasing her bravery, for not breaking under Chisaki's iron grip, for not succumbing to his words and his lies and leaving him behind for freedom. Unofficially, she was the 21st student in the class of 1-A at Yuei High, and according to her legal sibling, the strongest of everyone around her.

It was an early issue they had tackled; after she had been adopted into the Midoriya family, but before she had started to see Izuku as the father figure she referred to him as.

Before Izuku was told people thought he was trying to get himself killed.

"My scars aren't anything like yours, Eri," Izuku started with a soft voice. Slowly he pulled his hand free from the rest of the glove, leaving the stretchy green material to fall slack between their fingers. His now bare hand sunk between her and the bed, cupping against the cheek on her face. "Your scars were given to you by someone else. I am the reason I have these scars." One of Eri's hands drew back to her face, pressing against the back of his hand and tracing along the scar that curved around it. "I have scars because I couldn't do anything to stop them, other than to do nothing at all, and I couldn't just do that. I had to step in when I had to step in, when no one else would, even if that meant paying a price like this." He did nothing to fight as she pulled off his other glove with her free hand, leaving both green rubbers to lie empty between them as her hands cupped along the backs of his. "I've worried people by getting them, and I continue to do by having them. I am hiding them; out of sight, out of mind. Anything to let them worry less."

Eri pulled on his other hand, bringing it close to cup on the other side of her face and letting them squish her cheeks. "I don't mind your scars," she mumbled between his palms, succeeding in drawing a laugh out of the teen. "I think they make you look pretty."

"Thank you, Eri." Izuku curled in closer to the young girl and pecked the top of her head, her face pressed into his hands more as she failed to escape it. "That means a lot to me." She hummed in satisfaction and nuzzled against his palms as her eyes were cast down, and the two rested in a short silence before Eri spoke up again.

"Daddy?" Her short question was met with a small hum from Izuku, urging her to continue. "Can I have something?"

"Of course, Eri." Izuku scooted himself closer to her, moving his arms out to encase her and her doll in a loose hug, one where she got to use his triceps as a pillow. Though selfish of him, Izuku did want to leave the conversation behind. The news his classmate had given him was still fresh in his mind, and he'd rather do anything that could make Eri smile than linger on something that would make her cry. With how soft her voice had been, he'd panicked several times when he thought she was about to. "You can have whatever you want."

"Really?" There was a sparkle in her eyes as she looked up at him, one getting him to widen his smile and nod.

"Really," he confirmed with a nod. It only made her glow brighter, and Izuku didn't think he could be and happier to see her so happy and excited than ever before.

"I want a mommy."

…

"—eh?"


	10. 1-10

**How many years has it been? Because every time I take time I feel like trash. But that's probably because I am. At least I wrote what I wanted to write, so I do feel happy.**

 **So with this chapter imma actually take a pause and write some Metal Bat, because the next two chaps on that are right before the entrance exam, and that will be one whole bitch to write. Might stop then again and come back to this to write a bit more. Really want to work on both but also want to do work and make a living out in the world, so gotta focus there too. Sorry bout the lateness of stuff.**

 **But man did people respond since last time. Let's talk about that.**

 **Sunshine's Armageddon: That's where you're wrong, kiddo.**

 **Nixxon Mysterio: The cackling is the best part, though. Congrats on spending time to actually catch up. Means a lot to hear.**

 **Chopper911: I imagined it as the same stare he gives when All-Might gave him a strand of hair, and then devolving into something else.**

 **HankFlamion18: Yeah, the Yakuza are still up to their shit. You think one raid's gonna stop them? Give them a few more, because I know I will.**

 **Kamen Rider Eclipse: Okay but I had an even better idea so I'll do that instead.**

 **LilTeddyUrsa: Haven't we all, every now and again? Been a while since my .exe did though. Like, Thursday.**

 **R-King: He needs all the luck he can get.**

 **phoenixknight19: I like to see them too. Few stories out there tell pretty good ones.**

 **DarkDragon663: Did I write cliffs? Meant Cleffa. Wait till she gets a bean-bag Clefable.**

 **To both Guests, thank you for reading, and I assure you there is a paining in mind since, like, November. I just want to take time to make it natural. Probably will explain that stuff another time.**

 **Since I really have nothing else to say other than watch Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms because it honestly deserves all the love, enjoy the tenth chapter to this story, because oh my god i finally reached a double digit.**

* * *

Eri liked to think she knew her daddy Deku well. While her memories were small in numbers, and her social skills were getting better, she was able to read her daddy's face when he wasn't talking. She could guess pretty well what Deku was feeling from the looks on his face, and she could usually get right how to respond to make everything better, even when everything was good. Smile to widen his smile, dance to move his feet more, jump him and cuddle him to keep him from frowning; whatever worked, at least it worked.

She also knew how to get some secrets out of him. How to make him talk about things she wanted to know too, things that she could tell were important but sometimes not enough to tell her about right away. It was how she found out about her memory problems, and how she found out about the New Years' surprise party, and how she found out about the cake slice that was waiting for her in the refrigerator that Deku wasn't going to eat. And it was how she found out about his feelings for his own scars. Something that seemed opposite to how she was told to feel about her scars, a fear she didn't have for them. But Eri couldn't think differently of her daddy for having those feelings; she had the same emotions to the idea of a mommy.

Truth be told, Eri was scared of having a mommy, or at least a new one. She couldn't remember who her first mommy was, what she did, what she looked like, or anything else about her, except for the feelings that lingered trying to remember her. Someone who no longer loved her, someone who had abandoned her, someone who had given her up and let her fall into Chisaki's hands. Eri didn't like to think about her mommy, always trying to push the feelings and the thoughts away and not think about them again. As much as she wanted to get rid of those emotions, they were in charge of how she saw everyone around her already.

Eri doesn't remember who they were, or what they did, or what they looked like, but Eri knew she had a grandparent. A parent to one of her parents, which she couldn't remember, who loved her very much. Who spent time with her only a few short times when she had her mommy and daddy but someone she remembered being around her with a pretty smile. Who tried to protect her when her parents were gone and Chisaki was there to take over. But Eri didn't think of them as gone, just taken. That person and there love never went away, they just couldn't reach her. It was why Eri saw so many people and called them her aunt and uncle; they were all like one big family, and Eri didn't want to replace the feeling of her grandparent, but get it back to her and have it again.

The only other person she had in her life was her daddy, and that was a different case from her mommy and grandparent. With those two, their love for her was taken, one replaced by scary emotions and another pulled out of her fingers. But for her daddy, everything was just gone. She could barely remember the feeling of love connected to the idea of her old daddy, but before the other two emotions of love were gone, his was gone and all that she had left was something empty. Emotions for her daddy were as gone as her hold on the love from her grandparent, and she did not know why or where it went. So to fill the space, she tried to find another daddy.

A lot of the people who surrounded her now could have been her daddy. Sleepy Caterpillar Man had a soft voice and gave her a good amount of attention. Mirio spent a lot of time with her, helping her learn what she had missed out on for other kids her age. Big Toshi had a weird but big smile that went with his big hands and he too had the voice and attention giving things Caterpillar gave her. But, in the end, she chose Deku to be her daddy. When she was still stuck at the hospital, he would come by just as often as everyone else would, and she loved all of their visits, but her favorite day was when he and Auntie came in and told her she was a part of their family now. For their first few days together, Deku gave her more attention than anyone must have given her before. He gave her a place to sleep in his arms, gave her toys to play with that she loved a whole bunch, gave her food, gave her clothing, gave her baths, and gave her love.

Auntie Inko had told her Deku was acting like a helicopter parent, but Eri knew he couldn't fly like that, so Auntie told her that it meant he cared for her a lot and would do anything for her. Auntie said some kinds didn't like it when their parents acted like that, and Eri couldn't imagine why anyone wouldn't like all of that love and attention. Everything Eri needed and wanted was in Deku; all of it was in Izuku. And she couldn't think of anyone better to be her daddy than him.

So Eri became his helicopter princess (she really, really wanted to know what it was like to be a princess and was waiting for Deku to give her a crown and call her one, or really anything other than her name since he somehow didn't know or use the word daughter) and did her best to return the love. All the smiles and hugs and bouncing and dancing and cuddling, all to tell him how much she loved him too. And with Deku telling her how he felt about his scars, she now had to tackle her fears and find a mommy. If not for her, than for her daddy. Because mommies are supposed to love daddies, and they are supposed to love each other and everyone was supposed to be happy. It's what the books said, and it's what Eri wanted to be true.

And Eri knew who she wanted her mommy to be.

* * *

If Eri's question wasn't embarrassing enough for Izuku, he had to live with the fact he nearly blacked out in front of her following it. His brain had gone and shut down on itself for all of what must have been three seconds before Eri's panicking and fumbling against him snapped him back into consciousness. A quick and fumbled apology atop a really long hug patted away any worry the young girl was showing, and got her to ask what she had previously stated.

Luckily for Izuku, he did not pass out a second time. Surprise decided to grow prominent within him, taking into account Eri's words, the lack of sleep just previously on Eri's face, and what deeper meanings her question could have. Eri wanted a mother, and that was fine and all, but in what ways did she want one? Did she want a girl or woman to look up, as she herself was growing up? Did she think the family she had was somehow a broken one, with the role of a mother vacant for too long that she just wanted someone there to think of their family as whole? And taking into account the people she had been around, of his class and his friends, did she want her daddy to act more like one and actually have a significant other like most fantasies?

Izuku wasn't fond of thinking it as something bad or unhealthy or even somehow manipulative, so he gave Eri a "Yes" before he could truly bring his internal squabbling to a calm. Real panic, that he was actually aware of feeling, had to be contained behind his lips as Eri cheered and stumbled to crawl over him and off the bed. Apparently the approval of having a mother wiped away any sleep Eri still had to have her bouncing around the room to grab some actual clothes and whatever toy or figurine she could to tell them the good news. And Izuku stayed seated on the bed, smiling a wobbly smile externally and breaking down trying to break down the situation internally.

After reviewing the evidence before him and only breathing through his nose, Izuku concluded that Eri just wanted a woman figure to look up to. That. Was. All. There was and could not be any deeper meaning to her wanting a 'mommy' than for her own benefit. He could accept that, and keeping that in mind would do his best to help her find one. Unless, that is, she already had someone in mind, in which case Izuku would have to tell them what Eri really wants out of them, so they don't need to feel pressured at the idea that her 'mommy and daddy' only have to fill the roles as models and not as a couple. That's a panic Izuku doesn't want to have in the middle of the day in front of his friends.

It was the gargling of her stomach that inclined Izuku to take Eri downstairs once she was fully dressed. She smiled a beam of light at him as she settled in his arms for the trip, instead of walking by his side down the steps. Izuku had to agree it was probably for the best, given he wasn't sure an Eri bouncing off the walls until she landed in the arms of the girl she wanted to be her mommy. Least he could do was contain her excitement with the best grip he had for the situation.

Any hope that, just maybe, he and Eri wouldn't have to approach the girl the young one was thinking about until another day vanished as they descended to the common room and found it stacked with half the class. Iida, Ojiro and Tokoyami populated the kitchenette, each preparing their own meals for the time of day, off in their own conversations as they pass ingredients off to one another, and every girl in his class were lined up together on the long couch conversing over their own food and drinks. Izuku could feel himself sweat the bullets he wished he could load up and fire off to wake up from this fate, but the seemingly vibrating child in his arms was enough to convince him that, yes, this was real, and it was likely one of them.

"Oh, wow, you two are actually awake," Ashido commented as she spotted the pair descend the last step. "Mornin' Midori. Hey horn pal." Izuku greeted back with a grunt of a "Hello" as the other girls greeted them as well. Eri waved back to them as she was carried towards the kitchen, her hand flicking left and right at the wrist in excitement. Yep. It was one of them. Izuku gulped as he entered the kitchen as sat Eri on one of the open counter spaces.

"Good afternoon Midoriya," Iida greeted him, turning only a second away from his preparations before turning back to his work. Midoriya gave a soft greeting to him and the following gestures from the other two boys before the girl on the couch spoke up again.

"It's supposed to be 'Good morning,' Iida," Ashido called out to the class president. "You greeted him wrong."

"It's an hour past noon," Ojiro commented as he finished his bowl and turned out to the seating area. "I don't think its morning anymore."

"Morning ends when I say it ends." There was a slur to Mina's words. She must still be waking up, Izuku thought as he prepared Eri her own food. "That's how mafia works."

"Mina, I swear to god I will hit you for that," Jirou groaned beside her. The glare beneath her bangs was visible at all angles, and the aura around it more so. "It is _too_ early."

"Again: hour past noon." Mashirao plopped into the single-seated couch following his intrusion back into the conversation.

"My body tells me it's only nine, so I'll trust that," Jirou countered, taking a long sip of her cup afterwards.

"Such trust between body and spirit is a blessing to be had in our modern times," Tokoyami noted in his ominous tone, giving the crowd on the couches a look over his shoulder.

"There is not enough coffee in the world to let me take that seriously," the ear-jacked girl sighed into her drink.

"There'll be even less if you keep drinking it all," the crow headed classmate replied.

Izuku tuned out of the continuing banter of his classmates as he worked on Eri's food, only stealing glances up to the girl in question not watching him. Her own eyes darted around the room, lingering on each person in sight as they spoke and moving onto the next when they followed with something of their own. The smile gracing her lips never died; never faltered; never changed. Watching her be so happy around people could warm his heart, but the notion she was about to see one of them as something more lingered in Izuku's head through and through.

Izuku wished he wasn't as on edge on the subject as he was. As much as he wanted the situation to go right (that meaning the girl Eri chooses agrees and is comfortable with Eri seeing her as a motherly figure without having to fill the role at Izuku's side) he felt as though something could go wrong. Some huge misunderstanding could occur before Izuku could explain it to them or anyone, or maybe the one Eri wants to look up to isn't comfortable with being called a mother, or something Izuku couldn't even plan for would happen and no one would know what to do. As much faith as he had in Eri, the same couldn't be said for the universe for there to be any smooth sailing moving forward.

With a bowl of katsudon prepped, Izuku carried Eri carrying her food towards the couches, hogging up a single seater for themselves. He kept quite as she dug into her bowl.

"Huh? Deku, aren't you going to eat anything?" Uraraka questioned, noticing the teen in question frozen in his seat while the child in his lap ate.

Izuku shook his head, hoping it hid his gulp. "No, I-I'm not that hungry right now," he answered. He thought his stomach would probably reject any food he tried to eat with how he was feeling.

"Skipping a meal is unhealthy for you, Midoriya." Iida chopped a hand towards his classmate in the common area.

Tsuyu hummed out before Iida could interject more. "Most of us weren't even awake for the first meal of the day. You might be the only one here who was awake for breakfast."

"I was awake for breakfast," Jirou piped up again. "I just finally went to bed instead of staying up anymore." Momo looked almost aghast beside her friend, commenting on how skipping sleep was unhealthy. Kyoka only grunted and pointed across to the small girl finishing her noodles. "Blame her. She didn't want to sleep until then, and neither of them look even remotely tired, so don't ask me what they did to wake up actually alive, 'cause I just slept."

Izuku's arm wrapped around Eri in a protective gesture as the eyes in the room turned to them, and while he agreed that everyone else looked equally tired for people who stayed up late and got up later, he wasn't going to comment on that. "I-I got my usual five hours of sleep." The president and the vice-pres. of the class both jolted, the latter holding back from a spit take. Izuku already knew what was to come, because it was what he feared hearing if he had told his own mother.

"Five hours? Midoriya, that isn't enough sleep." Yaoyorozu looked borderline frantic as she placed her drink on the table before her and leaned forward. "Teenagers like us, especially as pro-heroes in training, should be getting eight hours a night. Our bodies need the rest in between all the work we do just getting ready to do work."

"I know, I know." Midoriya tried sinking into the cushions behind him. He knew enough from his classmates about disrupting what was the bubbly Yaoyorozu personality. The hard stare of Ashido behind her warned him enough about worrying that. Or at least he hoped it was about that and not his sleeping habits. "But I'm just used to it by now, for my training. I feel like I'm getting enough."

"Midoriya, pardon my blunt disregard, but I cannot believe you are." Iida came zipping out the kitchen with two bowls in his hands. Izuku wasn't sure when his friend had the time to make a bowl for him as much as he did himself, but given the hard stare Tenya had, he didn't turn it away when handed a bowl. "Everyone else here manages to get the sleep we all need to preform our best as students and as heroes and—"

"Bold of you to assume Fumi gets more than four hours a night," the chirping voice of Dark Shadow cut in, receiving himself a smack on the head from his host trying to hide with his other forearm.

Iida and Yaomomo turned both their attentions to Tokoyami and his quirk for some words regarding his sleep too, but Izuku tuned out the conversation. When he moved the bowl he received down to his lap, his gaze lingered on Eri and he watched her as she watched the rest of the room. The eager aura she had when they entered the room was still there, but he noticed her hands shuffling against each other. How she fiddled between his legs, leaning one way or the other. How her head snapped from one of his classmates to the next and her mouth hung ajar as though she had something to say. Izuku felt that same tension in his chest.

"Eri," Izuku whispered, turning the girl's face to his. "Are you still thinking about what I said earlier?"

The young girl tilted her head down with a hum for her thoughts before she looked back up. "That we can watch a movie tonight?"

A soft laugh broke through his chest, easing up on his prior worries. "Well, yeah, we'll definitely do that, but I meant when you asked that you wanted a mommy." Eri nodded and he took a deep breath to continue. "You want to ask them right now, don't you?" The white-haired girl sported a blush as she turned away and nodded again. Izuku could see her eyes dart to the crowd still conversing before them. He smiled and poked her cheek, getting her to lean away with a mumble of embarrassment equal to what he hoped he wasn't showing on his own face. "I told you yes, but you need to ask them. It's only fair to you and them if you're the one who does it."

When Eri looked back to him, her eyes shined with a new sense of wonder. "I get to pick the mommy?" she asked in a hushed voice, a finger pointed at herself. Izuku nodded, and she looked down in thought again, before asking, "Is that how you got your mommy?"

Izuku blinked in surprise, and looked away only a moment to see if any one of his classmates were watching him. None looked to be, but he leaned in closer regardless. "No, she was given me. I was her choice." A pause, and one he took to raise a hand atop her head. "I'm happy I was."

She hummed and nuzzled up at the hand. Her face betrayed the sound of pleasure, though. "What about your daddy?"

Izuku froze, though only externally. His hand rested on Eri's head but it didn't move with her, or move when she tried to make it. The glint of a happy expression on his face drained away for something blank, and he turned his head away a moment from Eri's as he thought on her question.

He never had mention his own father, had he? The closest mention of it came from Todoroki's 'jokes' of it being All-Might, but that was it. Not even his own mom had bothered to talk about him to Eri, and she probably knew more about what he was really doing across the sea more than Izuku did. But what was there to tell Eri about him when he barely knew anything himself?

"I have you," Izuku responded instead, trying a different approach as it built in his head. "I have mom. I have All-Might and Mirio and…Katsuki." He looked up again to the room of his classmates, and by the looks of it they were filtering out of their conversation. "And I have everyone else here. I didn't get to choose any of them, but I'm happy I have them. And I'm happy I have you." He looked back down to Eri and met with her eyes shining up at him. And he smiled. "I'm happy with what I've been given, and I trust you enough." His hand eased on her head again and pushed forward, bushing lightly against her horn and jolting her shoulders in response. "I trust you enough to do this for me."

Eri curled into Izuku's chest, pulling his fingers into her hands and holding them against her horn. Unlucky for him, Izuku didn't have the same ability to hide his face as his classmates took notice of him again, and he tried his best to hide what blush he felt against his hand and her head. Through the coos of the few in the crowd and what sounded like the quietest slap to quit it, he could hear Eri speak; "Can I do it right now?"

This was it, and with a sharp inhale, Izuku replied, "Yes. You can."

Izuku watched on in baited breath as Eri pressed into his hand one more time before climbing off his lap. The few seconds it took for Eri to move away from his were spent readjusting how he sat, realigning his clothing, messing with his hair, doing his best to balance his breathing; whatever he could to make him feel externally comfortable so he could be so internally. But he didn't feel ready. Not when she turned away. Not when she walked towards the girls on the long couch.

Not when she stopped in front of the girl closest to him: Ochako.

While other classmates were looking between the three, Uraraka stayed watching Eri, who stayed watching her, as Izuku only looked back and forth between the two, afraid of looking any of his other classmates in the eyes. It went as naturally as it could have at the start.

Uraraka smiled down at the young girl, placing her hands on top of Eri's, placed on top of her knees to grab the older girl's attention. "Hey Eri," she greeted the child. "What do you need?"

The girl being questioned shied away a moment, looking down at their overlapping hands, before her courage returned and she looked up into the older girl's brown eyes. "Will you be my mommy?"

The shattering of her ice-breaker could be heard across the room and all Izuku could manage was an uneasy smile, trying to act like nothing was happening. The only way he was able to keep that face was ignoring the wide-eyed stares when they turned his way. Ochako was one of the many shocked faces, understandably tomato red while looking at the answer-expectant Eri. The brown-bob-haired teen looked up to Izuku, at a loss for words at the little girl's request, and it was there Izuku couldn't keep it up. Before his face could falter, he threw his head back and stared at the ceiling, not wanting to respond to the continuing coos of Mina, Tooru and Dark Shadow or have any fingers pointed at him for the cause of it.

Though the corner of his eye he could still see the couch ahead of him, and watched as Uraraka sputtered at the looks of their classmates and turned back down to the young girl still waiting for an answer. "Y-y-y-you want m-me to be your m…mommy?"

Eri nodded, still not off put by anyone else's reactions to her question. She seemed determined to get a reply. "Daddy said I could but I had to ask," she replied.

Izuku did his best not to act like he was watching when Ochako and the rest looked at him, but he felt every inch of tension leave his body as Uraraka looked back down to Eri, and struggling through her words again, told Eri, "Okay." Eri all but jumped and cheered at the older girl's approval, and that eased the smile he forced ever so warmly.

For all of five seconds as he ignored the confused but otherwise happy reactions of his classmates, the continuous teasing of "deep love in the air" from Ashido, and the uneasy but still happy expression from Ochako, turning his head back down to see Eri moved over a foot to be in front of Tsuyu, hands placed on the girl's knees as they were on Uraraka's, and she asked, "Will you be my mommy too?"

The room went so quiet Izuku could hear his heart stop beating for the few seconds following Eri's repeated question. He was but frozen in his seat, back straight, feet planted, hands in his lap, and a smile on his face losing all joy and content until it was a blank and hollow smile. The scene before him replayed itself, though with less stuttering on Tsuyu's side, and with the same response from Eri, word for word, until Asui accepted and added to the shock going around the room.

And it repeated itself again and again, down the line of girls, each accepting with their own hesitation to Eri's question. Any embarrassment present in the room prior had been swapped with confusion, and none more so than in Izuku. He said nothing as Eri went from girl to girl, not to the child or to any of the pleading looks for answers any of his classmates shot him. The smile he had and forced wiped away every passing second until he looked as lost as the rest of the room, par the young girl.

When Momo had finished off the couch and the line of accepting the girl's request for a mom, Izuku let his brain go to work. The most sense he could make of everything that had occurred was that maybe Eri just thought all of the girls as good role models? The white-haired girl interacted little with Tooru or Tsuyu, despite the latter girl having the experience of dealing and caring for little siblings, but Eri asked them both right after Uraraka, given they sat both seats after her. And she seemed equally excited for having all girls accept being her moms, so she had to see something out of all of them that enticed her to ask them all the same question. But, since they all accepted and all seemed confused on the situation, Izuku could at least hope any assumptions of undertones were thrown out the window.

And _then_ she had to go a step further, stop in front of Ojiro on the solo couch beside the girls, place her hands on his tail, and ask "Can you be my mommy too?"

If Izuku could mark down the day he was most confused about everything he knew, it would be this day. Ojiro looked equally confused, and Izuku felt so sorry he couldn't answer the silent cry for help the tailed student was giving him. He looked to the rest of the room in Izuku's place, and with the conclusion that no one knew what was happening and Ashido's 'go on' gesture with her still trying to keep her cool, he sighed out and went along with the situation, giving Eri his own "Okay" to her question. And Eri lost nothing of happiness to hear those words.

Tokoyami was asked the same question, much to the same bewilderment from the rest of the room, but it was Dark Shadow who answered yes. To his host's raised eyebrow of a glance, he replied, "I've been waiting for the day we get to be momma birds and I'll take this. I have been waiting long enough."

Taking the quirk's answer as final, Eri left the bird-headed student to bicker with his quirk about the wording and moved on to Iida still standing by and watching the scenes before him play out. She stood in front of the tall teen, looking up to the sky to meet his eyes as she asked, "Will you be my mommy too?"

And with Iida did the train end as he crouched down to be closer to Eri's eye level. "Eri, pardon me if my question comes off as rude, but why are you asking us to be your mommy?"

"Daddy said I could," she responded, repeating the mantra she had from the start. "He said it was my choice."

"So you wanted to ask everyone in this room to be your mother?" the engine teen questioned, receiving a nod as the start of her response.

"Not everyone is here, but I really wanted to ask." Eri turned shy again, curling her head to her shoulder and twisting her foot at the toes.

Izuku could feel the amount of surprise in the room rising, and he was half tempted to shove it back down and cut in before anything could go further, but he couldn't find the energy in his voice to do so. And so he watched on mute as the conversation between the two went on.

"You want to ask everyone in the class to be your mommy?" Eri nodded, and all Izuku did was choke on the air he was already struggling to take in, because what else was there to do? But Iida continued, blind to Izuku's physically lurching forward to Eri's answer. "Alright, but I am a male." Eri nodded again, and Iida faltered in response to that, but didn't let it deter him from continuing. "Boys cannot really be mothers. That is how it works, genetically. What I can be is a father—"

"But I don't want another daddy," Eri cut him off, flipping from shy to confident. "Daddy is already the best daddy. I want a mommy."

Before Iida could go on again, the couch across from him cut in. "Eri," Yaoyorozu piped up, turning attention over to her. Under every gaze expect Izuku's on her, she flinched, but she carried on. "Can you tell us why you want us all to be your mommy?"

"Because all of daddy's classmates like daddy," Eri responded matter-of-factly. She didn't seem to notice every one of them lean into their faces of confusion and surprise, and went on; "Everyone looks out for daddy and cares for him, kinda like mommies do. And daddy likes everyone too…and-and if daddy trusts everyone, then…then I should too. I think daddy likes being with all of you." The more she spoke, the more shy she became under everyone's stares. "I think you would all be good mommies."

"Eri." For the first time in what felt like the past several hours in only ten minutes, Izuku spoke again, returning attention to himself. He ignored a lot of it, though, only caring to see Eri's ruby eyes face him again. Any other words he tried to say got lost in every breath he took, leaving only gasps of air to come out his mouth. Eventually he sputtered a laugh to his own struggles, falling his face into his hand and shaking his head. The few seconds his eyes were closed were all Eri needed to jump into his lap before he saw her coming. He flew back with her arrival, using his other arm to catch her and wrap around her as she fussed over him, thinking he was crying again. He did do that a lot, didn't he?

"Eri," he finally got out again, enough for the young girl to calm down in his arms and give him room to speak. "You know you don't have to force yourself to be around everyone if you're not comfortable with that."

"But I want to!" she argued, surprisingly louder than she was with her cheering. "Daddy likes being around everyone, and I want daddy to be happy."

"I want you to be happy too," Izuku reasoned with her. "That doesn't mean you need to make everyone your mom."

"But daddies need a mommy, and everyone's important to you. I don't want to leave anyone out and be rude."

The small pout Eri made at the end of her sentence only heaved a heavy breath out of Izuku, followed by both his arms wrapping around her in a hug. "You can never be rude, Eri. I don't even think that's possible if you're gonna have a heart like that." Izuku closed his eyes as he felt Eri return the hug, letting himself calm down from all the panicking he had been doing building up to this moment. "Thank you for looking out for me like this Eri." He leaned closer down to her, stopping his head right beside hers once he felt her shoulder, and whispered, "Thank you for being a good daughter." Izuku breathed another laugh as Eri hugged him tighter in response. At least he knew overcompensating as a father in place of his own wasn't doing anything bad to Eri's view of love and care.

Before he could open his eyes, Izuku felt weight drop onto him and Eri and try to wrap themselves around them. When he did open them, he was greeted to the sight of Ashido hugging them, and he could feel the flush rise in his face. "A-Ashido! W-what are yo—"

"Family group hug!" she exclaimed, and at the very least it wasn't loud enough to burst either of his ear drums. She was probably close to cracking a rib, though. "If we're gonna be one big family now, then we should celebrate it with a big hug! Because you'll be getting these a lot more now, little horn buddy." Izuku could feel Eri shake in his arms, and right when he was about to pipe up in worry did she throw her head back and press her own flushed face into Mina's shoulder. The pink-skinned girl took it as a sign to smile brighter and hug the two tighter.

Tooru jumped on the pile next, placed beside Ashido so Izuku could at least have some breathing room and not feel completely crushed, and the people only piled on from there until all the girls had trapped the father and daughter against the couch. The three boys trickled in afterwards, given the urgings of the first two girls of the pile and the convincing of the rest, until all nine were piling and smiling with the beat red family in the center.

And watching Eri slowly ease into the crowd around her and smile softly from the girls closest cooing and complementing her, Izuku knew it was worth the new bruise on his side to accept the family she was making for him.


	11. 1-11

**I hath returned to this story once again. Apologies to all how long it has been since last updating, but I really wanted Pro Hero: Metal Bat to live and then join this story at a ten chapter cap for me to bounce between them more regularly. It won't be 1:1, since the chapters to this story will be more along the lines of this length, as a normal book would cap them around 3-5k a chapter, while Metal Bat will take the risk with big updates like its last one, though the next few chapters might not reach that same word count. It will balance things out better.**

 **I have a discord, if this site even knows what that is. I will have the link here:** discord .gg /YqmsHGR **but you will have to pardon me for how it's chopped up. doesn't like people posting links anywhere, even on the profile, so for them to be here, it has to be made like that. It's maybe the one thing I prefer over on AO3, because I can post them there just fine. Metal Bat has brought a few over, but I'd love to talk with and befriend anyone else open to joining. I've made sure the link here is a permanent one, so don't worry about catching it too late.**

 **But don't think that's gonna get rid of the comment responses. I'll continue those for this story alone, and right here on , as an apology that this site hates links and because it's fun to.**

 **Guest: Did I say Cliffs? Meant Cleffa. Thought getting the next doll in the evolutionary line would be cute.**

 **Chopper911: Thank you, and here is your more.**

 **ComicJudge: Welcome aboard. Apologies it's been so long.**

 **TheOneYouDon'tSee1: A, I see the one. B, thank you. I'm happy you enjoyed the fluff.**

 **SirLightKnight: Yeah, I like doing things. I do have an idea for a pairing, but I view this place where Izuku is at as "not that ready for one directly" and decided to make it more wholesome and broad to help him open up to one later down the line. And don't worry, Bakugou is gonna love it when he hears that.**

 **ZaydenNightshade: Reminds me of the days when i watched America's Funniest Home Videos as a kid. The pain is universal.**

 **nayuta: I'm happy my writing has been able to reach you in that way.**

 **Xavier Arias Gonsalves: Well, here is the chapter. Apologies it wasn't sooner. And yeah, the Izu & Eri family is the train I jumped on to write this. Least now I have more of canon to write around.**

 **tamiurpro: Apologies for the scenes you had problems with. I am trying to write in a way that's clear and simple, so please pardon me in my efforts to find that balance between the lines.**

 **Guest: It's like the Dekubowl but with no commitment.**

 **TheAlienHeart: Yeah, he isn't something I thought of just brushing over, and I've seen a fair share where he's torn open a new one because of his actions, so I'm trying to find a middle ground in all that to approach in a way I don't see played this way. Others try to correct him too far and say "it was for protection" which is kinda lazy so i couldn't do that.**

 **smurr79: Thank you. I've read several other stories that cover it in various ways, all in different points in the timeline, and I haven't seen one a bit more calm (or plutonic in the case of those trying to ship them) in the approach, so it's here for that. No changing who Bakugou is, just trying to build off of what character traits we've been given.**

 **To Whitetiger789, PasiveNox and R-king 93, thank you for finding interest in my work. I'm happy you've enjoyed it thus far. And to all, I hope I can keep up that trend moving forward. Thank you, and enjoy.**

* * *

It was strange watching a building fly past his head but feeling no wind as it passed. It played with his senses, but he couldn't say he didn't expect it. Building after building, and lone stone after lone stone passed him in the black and purple haze that blew on for miles. Pacts of towers and shops would scatter apart and brush past him, only to reform back into a city block once away again.

Izuku recognized the tattered and thick-smoke infested world around him, along with his own hazy body still incomplete. Both his hands were visible, and he assumed a good chunk of his head was, but it irritated his nose to have smoke wisping from where his mouth was supposed to be. The need to sneeze was far too detailed of a phantom urge he knew wouldn't happen regardless if he gave into it or not.

"It has felt like far too long since I've last seen you here," a voice spoke out from behind him. Izuku suppressed the need in his nose and turned around, finding the first holder of One For All sitting behind him, on the same jagged rock that overlooked the decaying and fallen city of the dreamscape. "You've been quite the busy man, kid."

If Izuku could have laughed, he would have. Since he last saw any of his quirk's previous wielders – back when Class B and his own had a battle competition in the middle of last semester – he had been focused on his school work and catching Eri up to speed on the holiday checklist of the Winter season. For all his practice and thought he had been putting into his quirk, making use of Full Cowl had dropped for his academic studies and Blackwhip had yet to reappear in any of his class's physical training exercises. He was beginning to wonder if the previous uses were hiding from him since then.

The frail man in front of him laughed weakly as he dropped his legs to cross one over the other. "Hiding wouldn't be too far off," he commented, startling Izuku from his thoughts. "We're always watching you, kid, no matter what you do. Your schools been taking it easy on you, and you've been thinking of your own things to do with One For All and your kid, so we decided to step back and let you pace yourself again."

He appreciated that. Izuku couldn't help but lean back at the "no matter what you do" portion of his speech, but he was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that they were at least mindful of his privacy. But the last two times he had been in this scenario picked at his brain. The first holder and the user of Blackwhip had called him in for a purpose; he assumed they had some kind of power still to bring him out of his conscious state and talk to him directly. If he was a betting boy, the previous holders were going to stay three-for-three on having him in this desolate place for a reason.

"I wish I was the one that brought you here," the first holder sighed, casting a glance over his shoulder absentmindedly. "The rest are still hesitant to meet with you, I must admit. Kuro had no intention of talking with you so soon until you forced his quirk into your hands. You've been ever hesitant since to play with what this quirk offers you completely. I wasn't planning to bring you again until you were certain on your next course of action, but this wasn't my choice."

Izuku squinted his eyes at the older man in confusion, trying to decipher the man's words. If it wasn't his choice, and it wasn't one of the other holders – and it didn't sound like a possibility – then why was he here? Had he somehow managed to bring himself into this demented place just by having his quirk and what he could do to improve his use of it plague his mind every so often? The shake of the first holder's head was a sign Izuku took the man was reading his thoughts again, and while the man flinching where he sat didn't stir a thought out of Izuku, the voice behind him snapped his eyes wide open. "You must be the young man everyone was talking about."

He knew that voice; it wasn't a perfect replica from his memory, but the smooth accent over it couldn't hide the difference. Ignoring the grimace of the first holder and the shiver down where his own spine would be, Izuku turned around to find the source of the voice and the other man standing among the pluming haze and smoke. He didn't recognize the man's face – or any detail of his head for that matter – and the snow white suit he wore was a stark contrast from the one he wore in Kamino. The man in total was failing to strike a chord in Izuku's memory, but it struck a far more fearful chord in the back of his mind; this wasn't his memory of the man, was it?

"I wasn't expecting my brother's quirk to be in the hands of someone so young," All For One commented, looking Izuku's hazy form up and down. "But with how long I've been gone, I think it's only fair my little brother surprises me with his new friends."

* * *

It was two in the morning when Izuku jolted awake, greeted to the sight of his room dimly lit by the moonlight shining in between the clouds and pelting snow. Everything was still in one piece; it all fared better than the last time he had woken up from the dreamscape, Izuku noted. The soft breathing behind him was enough to know his own abrupt jump awake hadn't done the same to the one-horned girl beside him, hugging onto her Clefairy pillow tighter than any she'd given to him. It wasn't like the plush doll had to breathe, though, so you win some you lose some, he reasoned.

He crawled carefully out of his bed not to wake Eri – keeping his arm away from her grasp was the most he had to watch out for – and tiptoed to his desk. He nearly collapsed into his chair with a sigh and winced as it creaked when it took the whole of his weight. But the noise hadn't woken the young girl either, so he took what he could get. He looked over his belongings; his eyes trailed over every notebook strewn about, each stack of papers that were his homework assignments, each collectable he had standing about to decorate the place as his. The first thing he reached for was his phone.

– _Happy New Year, Young Midoriya!_

 _Thanks All-Might! Happy New Year! –_

His fingers lingered over the keypad, hesitant to type something – anything – out. It'd been a whole day since news had surfaced of All For One's death but All-Might hadn't mentioned even a notion about it to Izuku. Why hadn't he; the late villain was the origin of their quirk, and his death alone probably meant more than the new inheritor had even pondered over, having spent the time hiding Eri from the news than focusing more on it.

But All For One was All-Might's enemy first and Izuku's no more, and he knew that. There was probably a lot the former number one hero had to manage and look over, personally and publically, regarding the passing of his enemy. He had visited the villain in Tartarus before, and Izuku wondered if he visited again to see what was left of his mortal enemy. All-Might would have good reason not to bring Izuku into the matter.

Didn't mean the radio silence panged his heart any less.

He tossed his phone to the side and took a notebook and a pen into his hands. He clicked on his overhead lamp and flipped his book to an empty set of pages. If he was going to tell All-Might about what he saw, he should at least have his own understanding of what he was going to talk about. It's what he did for his first dream with the original holder of One For All and a wielder of the quirk in between then and now; it's probably something he should do when it was about the man who gave the quirk at the start.

Izuku had seen the All For One's recreated from the first holder's memory, a near replica to the man he had seen in his dream from what felt like moments ago. Had it interacted only with his brother, the first holder of the combined quirk, Izuku would have been convinced it was just another memory reenactment. But All For One had interacted with him; he had talked about him. Izuku doubted a simple recreation from scratch would do that, and he doubted the other wielders would play a prank like that on him without good reason if at all. It had to be traces of All For One himself left over in the stockpiling quirk he passed on to his brother.

But how?

Izuku assumed One For All was a strange quirk from the start. It was the first he had heard of a quirk possessing the ability to be passed on from one person to another in a means not related to birth and blood. Then he learned not only was it not one quirk but two: a quirk that stockpiles and a quirk that can pass down quirks. He'd then later learn they weren't the only quirks he had access too. But the revelation that it was combined with a stockpiling quirk had implanted itself in his mind the most.

What was his quirk stockpiling? Power was one thing he knew for certain, given how familiar he had become to wielding the strength All-Might himself could output. That didn't exactly encompass the souls of the previous wielders and their quirks, plus the man who originally had the quirk and the man who passed it along to his brother. All-Might hadn't mentioned the quirk being capable of holding souls – the hero hadn't experienced the quirk the way Izuku had in under a year's time of having it – and he had yet to see any signs that All For One and the man he stole the quirk from were resting alongside the other wielders of One For All. Was there more information All-Might was holding back from telling him, or would any of these theories fly over his head too? Word of mouth wasn't exactly the most reliable form of information passing. How much more to the quirk was there that neither of them knew about yet?

"Who's that?"

Izuku nearly jumped out of his skin and seat at Eri's voice. The young girl had climbed out of bed and was supporting herself on her toes to look over the desk edge with her doll. She seemed oblivious to the heart attack she almost gave him, focused instead on the notebook he had lying open. As he eased back into his seat did he process what she had asked, and looking down at the notebook he found the rough sketch he had made of All For One. Why had he drawn that?

"That's um" – Izuku's hands fumbled as he dropped them into his lap and Eri's bright, though tired, red eyes turned over to him – "he's a grandfather of mine. He…passed away some time ago. It's been a while since I last saw him; wanted to try and remember him somehow." Eri bought it without argument, turning back to the drawing he made with the same placid expression. "What are you doing up, Eri? It's barely past two in the morning."

"You weren't in bed," she responded, easing back down to her feet and leaning her head on her plushie. "And it was cold. And you were talking a lot."

"Oh, I'm sorry for waking you." He scooped Eri up into his arms, setting the girl down on his lap. She melted against him, leaning against his body. He wasn't aware he was muttering out loud again – heck, he didn't even realize he was drawing All For One while he was thinking. "I was trying not to do that. That's on me. C'mon, let's get you back to bed."

"Why were you awake?" Eri asked Izuku as he set her back in bed. His fingers twitched as they passed under her and pulled away so he could walk back to his desk and click off his lamp. He wasn't exactly keen on cover stories. The drawing on his desk caught his eye before the light flicked off. Too much was floating around All For One: his death, the yakuza who killed him, and the appearance of him again while he slept – possibly within his quirk to boot. Why did he have to be involved in it at all?

"A dream," he admitted as he returned to the bed and climbed beside Eri. "Got startled in it and it woke me up."

She bundled up against him, turning her back away to keep the doll from getting in the way and humming as he pulled the comforter over them. "Was it a bad one?"

"I don't think it was." His arm curled under her and the doll to lay a hand over hers. "I'm just trying to process it still. But I don't think it was a bad one." Frightening, yes; Izuku wouldn't call his encounter with the soul of All For One anything less. A nightmare, not yet – not until he knew what impact it was going to have on his quirk, if any at all. "Besides, I got you here to protect me if anything bad happens. I have nothing to be afraid of with a hero protecting me."

"But you're _my_ hero!" Eri giggled out in response, brushing her head into Izuku's chin to cite a laugh from him. "You're supposed to protect me."

"Then we'll protect each other," Izuku suggested. "I save you, you save me. We can be our own little hero group. The Midoriya Heroes."

Eri yawned through another giggle. "I get to be a hero?"

"'Course you do. I couldn't think of a better person to be my partner against crime."

Eri dipped her head back into her doll, curling around it so Izuku could curl in on her. "Even with a quirk like mine?"

Izuku's gaze dipped to the horn peaking over her hair. It had steadied its length at a few inches tall before, though far from the foot long spike of bone Aizawa had told him it had grown the day of the yakuza raid. It looked far shorter now, though still visible enough to disassociate from the same stark white of her own hair. The winter weather blew outside the patio, letting the nightlight dance around in specs over Eri's hair. "Even with a quirk like yours." His eyelids drooped as he eased his head over hers. "In the morning…we'll come up with your hero name…okay?"

* * *

"I must admit my surprise to hear you prefer a name made as an insult, even if made up, to be what the public should call you."

It was his voice Izuku noticed first, not the haze of the world around him or that which made his body. Not even the cyclone of structures had made it into his eyes before All For One's words reached his ears. If he had a mouth, Izuku was sure he would have sighed before anything else. The smoke that blew out in front of his face acted as a good enough fallback instead.

"It seems my efforts to stop the pitiful phenomenon of heroes did not happen by my own hand," the deceased villain carried on. Izuku gazed over his smoky shoulder to the man, standing on the edge of their rock and watching the dreamscape roll by. The first wielder sat between them, one shoulder to Izuku and the other to All For One. "But my efforts do not stop with me. Those loyal to my cause will see out my wishes."

Izuku squinted. Had he retained all his memories from before his death?

"No," the first wielder butted in, looking at Izuku between his white locks of hair. "He's sorting through the other memories of all who have carried this quirk. You and your mentor were the most recent people to come in range of him and any news about him, so he's started with your master. His memories were cut in between when he gave the quirk to me and what he's last seen. It will be a while for him."

"I have all the time in the world to watch my life flash before my eyes, brother." All For One looked behind to the two of them. "I remember a time you said you would stop me. You have grown far more lazed than when I last saw you."

His brother smiled thinly and looked back to the villain. "There's no need for me to stop you now. And with the promising world around this boy, I have no reason to be worried of his future or the challenges he will be facing." He looked away, out through the sea of smoke and watched as buildings huddled together to form a city. "You're no longer a threat to anyone. It would be pointless to be afraid of you now."

That was a weight off Izuku's absent chest. If he couldn't trust the form of All For One, he should at least be able to trust the first wielder. So he truly was dead and present within the quirk, but relatively useless to the man he was when alive.

"His followers and believers live on, still," the first wielder commented.

That was true, Izuku agreed. Shigaraki and the League had been silent ever since the raid of Kamino, though hushed whispers of their involvement could be heard in the yakuza raid and the Deika city incident. If they were reacting at all about the news of All For One's death – if they were even paying attention to the news over their own actions to begin with – they were keeping quiet on their response. Izuku remembered how emotional every action of Shigaraki's were, how rooted in himself his outbursts and arrivals were. Maybe a response within a day's time of the news was too much to ask for, but it sounded more in character for bad to become worse instantaneously when the League was involved.

Suddenly, All For One flickered out of sight, leaving Izuku with the first wielder of One For All. He spun around, looking for any sight of the villain, but found not a trace of the man among the floating cityscapes.

"He's digging further through the memories of the other wielders." The first wielder was standing by his side in an instant, looking out over the bellowing smoke. "He hadn't the quirk for long, so his own time with the stockpiling power he passed on was short. I believe he had given it away not even a day after finding it. His presence here is nothing more than the memory of the man he was before he had passed it on. I have known of his presence within this quirk since I came here, but it's always been fleeting and minute in the crowd of other memories; never believed it would take on the same state as we have."

The answers Izuku was given was only piling on questions. So All For One and the other wielders of One For All were only the memories of them before they passed on the quirk? Was the man in front of him not the real soul of the first wielder, then? Were none of them? Then the memory of All For One was the man running around in the quirk and not the actual soul of his mentor's long-time sworn enemy? If everything in the quirk was built off memories, then how was he able to harness the quirks of others, or it at all, when quirks were supposed to be a direct genetic trait passed down in natural ways while One For All was unnatural in its conception?

Izuku was grateful to have his hands so he could massage his temple.

"You are the first of the wielders to approach One For All in this way," the first wielder mentioned as he looked his way. "When I had told you that you would be different from the rest of us, I meant it. All-Might has said you would usher in a new wave of heroes, a new age for the profession to become. The death of my brother changes little of my hopes for you; it has only helped to reinforce who you will become." He set a hand out before them both, letting his palm glow before them. Izuku remembered it the same way All-Might's had glowed when he first told him about the quirk almost two years ago. "Do you know why One For All has continued to be passed on from person to person?"

To defeat All For One, Izuku recalled. The topic had come up several times before, as he remembered the villain's bother vowing to defeat him and All-Might's own promise to do the same. It was probably the same mantra every wielder between them had carried. Even when the big bad was locked away in Tartarus, the lingering fear he would break out and he would be a problem – _his_ problem – didn't leave Izuku. He was dead now; a memory of him was all that remained within Izuku's mind, both the man he once was and the man the new wielder of One For All briefly knew.

"Not just in your mind." The first wielder's interruption brought Izuku to look at him, finding the man's face wearing a small smile. "There's the memory of him in you, but there is a memory of him in All-Might as well. In the minds of the public who watched the two of them fight. In the minds of those who followed him blindly, seeking for power. In the minds of those like Shigaraki, aiming to take his place. My brother may be gone from your world physically, but he lives on in everyone's mind, in a way. It too must be snuffed out."

There was no villain more public or powerful than All For One. Izuku couldn't rack his brain for an even close contender. All For One was one man with many quirks, and everyone else was one for one. He was a man hell-bent on tearing apart the world of heroes and taking away quirks from those in power to let those without revolt. He enjoyed murder, by his own hand or by those he let run loose. He could see the semblance of him growing in Shigaraki, Stain, Overhaul, Muscular and many of the villains he had seen on the news before. Bits and pieces of him in everyone, with all of them offering something else to form their own twisted view on the world. Shigaraki was one of the few left standing even close to matching the monster behind the mask.

 _You're next_.

"One For All is your quirk, given to you not in the hopes that you would have to face its long-time foe but that it could live on in someone worthy of its fruits of labor. That it could be used to inspire others and not follow in the trail of blood spilled in the war before even its birth. It was All-Might's hopes that with you, the quirk can start a new life beyond the fight." The first wielder turned his head slowly, the white of his iris glistening from the light in his palm. "What are your hopes for this quirk, Midoriya Izuku?"

* * *

It was a few minutes past six when Izuku woke up, with sunlight barely trickling through the cloudy sky and soft-falling snow. The first thing that caught his attention was the creaking outside his door, and the muffled conversations of his classmates passing his door on their way downstairs. It sounded like the usual early risers of Iida and Todoroki, but he could hear the chirpiness of Dark Shadow's voice following them so he knew there was more than them.

Next in line for his attention was Eri, shuffling around in her sleep and pressing a hand into Izuku's cheek. She had managed to spread her limbs like a star atop her doll; a foot draped over his side and a hand loose atop his face. Her snores were only soft exhales punctuated by pressing her hand against his cheek again. Izuku had to be careful to pick himself out of bed this time.

He had grabbed his phone to snap a picture of Eri's pose until the open notebook on his desk caught his eye. It was as he left it, open on the page of All For One's rough sketch of a headshot. It was a dead serious look – no smile and no life in the eyes. The mouth was a frown but it lacked any signs of disappointment. Izuku felt it instead, reminded by the fact he had information to share with All-Might. He wished there was a happier note his last semester to his first year at U.A. than that, but he had little an option in the matter. The sooner his mentor knew the truth, the better.

Pushing the inevitable aside, Izuku went ahead on capturing a few pictures of Eri's sleeping form and sending them to their mother. He smiled as the young girl rolled her head and drool trailed down the side of her lip, and more so at the bubbly smiling emoticons his mother sent in response. He enjoyed indulging in the happiness over his thoughts of the conversation he had left in his dream.

The conversation he had between both ends of that conversation, however, reignited in his mind as he looked to Eri's horn, glistening from the faint light of day. "What would your hero name be?" he asked aloud softly, knowing full well he wasn't getting a reply in response. What could she use as a hero name? What would be a codename to best suit her? He could list off the top of his fingers the things she absolutely loved; what could he make out of candy apples, chocolate, Mirio, music and himself?

He had minutes to spare before he needed to join his classmates for homeroom, so he rested himself back on the bed gently beside Eri. She shifted and leaned towards the sudden weight on the mattress. He took one of her hands in his as it reached for him, and he leaned in as she mumbled in her sleep. "Back…my daddy…Deku can…"

His finger brushed over her knuckles as she continued to fight lazily, until the gentle connection of their hands had her grab at his. He let her, ceasing her attempts in the brawl, finding Izuku in the middle of whatever foe she was previously up against. He took notice of her horn, having grown back into a few inches of height, and he pondered what was triggering it. It had spiked before when she used her quirk, but Izuku had seen it bounce between heights as a part of his family. Was it an emotional trigger over the use of her own quirk?

Given her comment last night, Izuku leaned to and hoped for the former.

She was still afraid of it, he knew. Afraid of what involving it, she wouldn't explain, but he could garner a guess or two for an answer; over what she couldn't do with it and what others had done with it in her steed. He wanted to help her past that no matter how long it would take; with her quirk only effecting people, it could be a long time until she was comfortable using it again. But he believed she could do it. She'd make a fine Dekiru if she wanted that as her hero name, he chimed in his head.

His grip tightened on her hand ever so slightly. What would it be like to have her quirk, if he could test it for her so she wouldn't be afraid?


End file.
